Peterson Wealth Services Invests $1.47 Million in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Peterson Wealth Services acquired a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,828 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,471,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth $421,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 22,564 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,760,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Violich Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 218,096 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $36,344,000 after acquiring an additional 6,650 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,847 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,308,000 after acquiring an additional 2,140 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 10,798 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,799,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $178.97 on Tuesday. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $500.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.68. 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 results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ORCL. UBS Group upped their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

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.