GPM Growth Investors Inc. Has $9.01 Million Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

GPM Growth Investors Inc. lessened its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,090 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 346 shares during the period. Oracle makes up 3.8% of GPM Growth Investors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. GPM Growth Investors Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $9,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. One Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 9,422 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $930,095,000. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Oracle by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 87,391 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $14,563,000 after buying an additional 832 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 252,552 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $42,085,000 after purchasing an additional 34,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 482,818 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $80,457,000 after purchasing an additional 8,204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $161.75 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $168.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.10. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $110.67 and a one year high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $452.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Company Profile

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.