Wealth Alliance Increases Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Wealth Alliance increased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,483 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,309 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,275 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 279.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $201,759,000 after acquiring an additional 891,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Oracle by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL opened at $181.51 on Thursday. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.51 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $169.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.67. The company has a market cap of $507.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.05. 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 announced its quarterly 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). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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.