Apollon Wealth Management LLC Acquires 2,305 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 64,020 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,305 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $10,668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on ORCL shares. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Up 1.3 %

ORCL stock opened at $174.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $488.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $170.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $164.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.