Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,124 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 129.0% in the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 target price on shares of Oracle and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $152.83 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $427.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $112.78 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.27.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

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.