Cidel Asset Management Inc. Sells 324 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Cidel Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,869 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 324 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its stake in Oracle by 383.4% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,800,000. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth approximately $4,160,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity 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 shares were 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ORCL. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $174.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $488.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.67, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $106.51 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $170.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.11.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.