Whipplewood Advisors LLC Takes $186,000 Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,114 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $186,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 129.0% in the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Oracle to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Down 4.5 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $164.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.13. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $110.36 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $460.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.27, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is 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.