D.A. Davidson & CO. Decreases Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

D.A. Davidson & CO. cut its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 97,910 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 2,946 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $16,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 280,514 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $46,745,000 after buying an additional 13,424 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 43,463 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $7,243,000 after purchasing an additional 16,245 shares in the last quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Oracle by 109.3% in the 4th quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 9,119 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 4,762 shares in the last quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 6,033 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 315,749 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $53,797,000 after purchasing an additional 9,670 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $182.73.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL traded down $8.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $167.92. The company had a trading volume of 9,693,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,127,484. The company has a market capitalization of $469.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $109.66 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $169.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $166.74.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is 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.