Private Advisor Group LLC Increases Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 124,806 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,679 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $20,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth about $222,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 12.4% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Oracle by 43.5% in the third quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 2,582 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 3.1% in the third quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 12,931 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BLB&B Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 6,655 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,134,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $181.51 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $169.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $166.67. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.51 and a 12-month 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 firm has a market cap of $507.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

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.