Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Decreases Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA cut its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,000 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 383.4% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $27,428,000 after acquiring an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth $1,800,000. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the third quarter worth $4,160,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $167.81 on Tuesday. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.97, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $163.58.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted 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). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by 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.