Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 119,602 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 2,003 shares during the period. Oracle makes up about 1.8% of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $20,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 15.3% during the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,502,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in Oracle in the third quarter worth $4,160,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $48,813,000 after purchasing an additional 126,985 shares during the period. Finally, Buckley Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,370 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,870 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp raised their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.52.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $187.05 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.85. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $99.26 and a 12-month high of $191.77. The firm has a market cap of $518.33 billion, a PE ratio of 48.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.