Wambolt & Associates LLC Reduces Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Wambolt & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,493 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 918 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. Florida Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 156.2% in the fourth quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,266 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,991 shares in the last quarter. Aire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 4,924 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $820,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 1,785 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Potentia Wealth purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,978,000. Finally, PKS Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at $357,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Stephens started coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 target price for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $154.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $164.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $433.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $112.78 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly 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). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Oracle 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.