Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $3.01 Million Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Verus Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,044 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,080 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $3,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wealth Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth $222,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 12.4% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 5,241 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $893,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,382 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 19.6% in the third quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 9,181 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ORCL shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

Oracle stock opened at $164.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $460.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.27, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $169.00 and its 200-day moving average is $168.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $110.36 and a 12 month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s 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 directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.