Childress Capital Advisors LLC Has $875,000 Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,254 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other 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 directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ORCL opened at $168.60 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $171.89 and its 200-day moving average is $163.58. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $106.51 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $471.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ORCL shares. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

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.