Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,953 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $8,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its stake in Oracle by 383.4% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth $1,800,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. UBS Group reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price objective on Oracle and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $178.65.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Oracle
Oracle Price Performance
ORCL traded down $4.19 on Tuesday, reaching $122.97. The stock had a trading volume of 8,522,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,145,063. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $159.43 and a 200-day moving average of $169.09. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.78 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $343.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.
Oracle Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This is a positive change from Oracle's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle's payout ratio is 46.95%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,049,400.30. This represents a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,448,328 shares of company stock valued at $453,791,001 over the last 90 days. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Oracle Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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