Capital Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 8.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 69,528 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 6,344 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $11,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Oracle by 148.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 131.2% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $552,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,450 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Oracle by 97.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $532,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its position in Oracle by 5,853.1% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,500 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.67.

Oracle Trading Down 0.5 %

ORCL stock opened at $174.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $99.26 and a one year high of $178.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $156.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.49. The company has a market capitalization of $484.16 billion, a PE ratio of 45.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 41.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.