Providence First Trust Co Grows Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Providence First Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 612.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,840 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,318 shares during the quarter. Providence First Trust Co’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 valued at $12,003,241,000 after buying an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 3,805.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 966,571 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $161,069,000 after acquiring an additional 941,819 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 279.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $201,759,000 after acquiring an additional 891,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ORCL. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $168.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.36. The stock has a market cap of $464.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $110.36 and a 52-week 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.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. 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.