Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Decreases Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas lowered its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 31,119 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 485 shares during the quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Oracle were worth $5,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after buying an additional 121,874 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders raised its position in shares of Oracle by 383.4% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,160,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 79.6% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $48,813,000 after buying an additional 126,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 84.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 863,883 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $147,206,000 after purchasing an additional 395,613 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Down 1.5 %

ORCL stock opened at $183.59 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The firm has a market cap of $513.50 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $174.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.