Wedmont Private Capital Raises Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 91,298 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares during the quarter. Oracle comprises about 0.7% of Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Oracle were worth $14,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its position in Oracle by 383.4% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 15.3% in the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,160,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Oracle by 79.6% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $48,813,000 after purchasing an additional 126,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note 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 report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.48.

Oracle Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Oracle stock traded down $1.26 during trading on Monday, hitting $153.24. 4,353,061 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,312,621. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $177.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $428.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $105.42 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Oracle Company 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.