Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys 517 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,013 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in Oracle by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.8% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Requisite Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in Oracle by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $908,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $167.92 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a market capitalization of $469.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $109.66 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.58.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released 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 analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued 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 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.