Financial Advocates Investment Management Acquires 646 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,787 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,052,275 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 279.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $201,759,000 after buying an additional 891,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ORCL shares. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup increased 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 boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $174.53 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $106.51 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The firm has a market cap of $488.15 billion, a PE ratio of 42.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $170.63 and its 200-day moving average is $164.11.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

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.