Evanson Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Evanson Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,536 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Oracle by 5.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the third quarter worth approximately $4,160,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $48,813,000 after buying an additional 126,985 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ORCL. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report 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 report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $161.05 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $450.44 billion, a PE ratio of 39.38, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $175.44 and its 200 day moving average is $161.46. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two 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.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its 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%. Oracle’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

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.