Equitable Trust Co. Purchases 16,376 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Equitable Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 84.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,665 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,376 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $5,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,343 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,390,000 after acquiring an additional 4,294 shares in the last quarter. Elser Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $756,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,634 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $772,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $291,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 805 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $174.53 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $488.15 billion, a PE ratio of 42.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.50. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.51 and a 1-year high of $198.31. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last released its 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 firm 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%. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.