Guardian Partners Inc. Acquires New Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 42,141 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,875,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Second Line Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $650,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.8% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,296,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $373,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 1,423 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Oracle by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $908,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Oracle from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $179.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

Oracle Stock Down 4.0 %

ORCL stock traded down $6.22 on Wednesday, reaching $147.71. 13,208,136 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,528,080. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.44. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $112.78 and a one year high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $413.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Oracle's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is 46.95%.

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.