Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC Raises Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,135 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,689,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ORCL. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 12.4% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 5.3% during 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 buying an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,430 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,948,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,590,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Oracle by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 689,476 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $117,487,000 after acquiring an additional 31,890 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on ORCL shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.65.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $137.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $383.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.62. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $112.78 and a 12 month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

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.