Hilton Capital Management LLC Sells 50,007 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Hilton Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 95.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,617 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 50,007 shares during the period. Hilton Capital Management LLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ORCL shares. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $169.52.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL traded up $1.47 during trading on Thursday, reaching $192.22. 659,989 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,198,171. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $174.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $148.37. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $193.85. The company has a market cap of $532.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.