Balboa Wealth Partners Purchases 1,076 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Balboa Wealth Partners raised its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 19.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,615 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,076 shares during the quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Oracle were worth $1,102,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,325,268 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $395,295,000 after purchasing an additional 53,128 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the period. United Bank raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,430 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 10,767 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,835,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ORCL. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup reduced their target price on Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.85.

Oracle Trading Up 4.8 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $151.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $422.81 billion, a PE ratio of 36.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $112.78 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $166.51 and a 200 day moving average of $169.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.