Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Position Lifted by Waddell & Associates LLC

Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,525 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.6% in the second quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 9,530 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 4.6% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 30,892 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $4,362,000 after buying an additional 1,346 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 51.8% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 86,477 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,211,000 after buying an additional 29,523 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 29.9% in the second quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,075 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $858,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, Certuity LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 7.7% in the second quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 10,962 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after buying an additional 779 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Oracle from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Oracle from $133.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on Oracle from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Oracle from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.87.

Oracle Stock Down 0.6 %

ORCL stock traded down $0.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $141.81. The stock had a trading volume of 11,154,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,056,655. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $146.59. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.72 and a 200 day moving average of $128.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $390.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total value of $161,651,250.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,862,500 shares of company stock valued at $266,776,624 in the last three months. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

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.