Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC Invests $234,000 in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,372 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Oracle in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,584,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Oracle by 97.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $532,920,000 after buying an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. Bellevue Group AG lifted its holdings in Oracle by 49.1% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 677 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.0% in the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,046,305 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $131,426,000 after buying an additional 20,106 shares during the period. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 1.0% in the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,278,630 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $160,609,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $192.29 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $196.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $532.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.56, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ORCL. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.