RiverFront Investment Group LLC Increases Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

RiverFront Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 50.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,871 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the period. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 129.0% in the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays cut their price target on Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price target on Oracle and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $140.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a 50-day moving average of $163.94 and a 200 day moving average of $170.22. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $112.78 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The stock has a market cap of $393.67 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.