New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Acquires 27,818 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 278.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,818 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,818 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $6,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 129.0% in the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.20.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $145.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $408.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $164.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.11. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $112.78 and a one year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 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 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the business’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 value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by 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.