Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Reduces Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA decreased its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,087 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Oracle were worth $681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Prudent Man Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $346,000. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in Oracle by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 97,987 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $16,329,000 after purchasing an additional 2,258 shares during the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co grew its position in Oracle by 612.2% in the 4th quarter. Providence First Trust Co now owns 10,840 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,806,000 after purchasing an additional 9,318 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Oracle by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,570,294 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $261,674,000 after purchasing an additional 17,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Oracle by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,998,798,000 after purchasing an additional 97,635 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Oracle to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $168.93 and a 200-day moving average of $168.36. 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 stock has a market cap of $464.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $110.36 and a one year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its 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). The firm 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%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.