Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 136 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,564 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $3,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Oracle during the third quarter worth approximately $51,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ORCL shares. StockNews.com raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $178.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $170.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $164.68. The stock has a market cap of $500.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.51 and a 52-week high of $198.31. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Oracle Company Profile

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.