Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 179,709 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 10,978 shares during the quarter. Oracle comprises approximately 2.0% of Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $30,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $7,076,685. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.52.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $170.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $471.14 billion, a PE ratio of 43.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $99.26 and a 12-month high of $178.61.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

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.