Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Acquired by Apollon Wealth Management LLC

Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 64,020 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,305 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $10,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,493 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Mezzasalma Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Mezzasalma Advisors LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. MWA Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $473,000. Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 28,743 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $4,790,000 after buying an additional 2,514 shares during the period. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 18,491 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,081,000 after buying an additional 4,752 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $174.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $488.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.67, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.11. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ORCL. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

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.