Archford Capital Strategies LLC Decreases Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Archford Capital Strategies LLC lowered its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 27.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,129 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 1,534 shares during the quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,049,824,000 after buying an additional 310,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,489,345,000 after buying an additional 54,868 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Down 1.5 %

ORCL opened at $183.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $106.51 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $513.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $162.64.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Oracle Company 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.