Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 18,357 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lessened its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,993 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 18,357 shares during the period. Oracle comprises about 2.1% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Oracle were worth $31,827,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Melius upgraded shares of Oracle from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Oracle from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Oracle from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $181.48.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL traded down $8.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $154.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,585,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,721,826. The stock has a market capitalization of $431.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.74, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $177.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.63. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $103.54 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Oracle 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.