Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Position Raised by Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc.

Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 53.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,219 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Stock Up 7.8%

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $215.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $160.62. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $118.86 and a 52 week high of $216.60. 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 company has a market cap of $602.86 billion, a PE ratio of 52.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,538,339.30. The trade was a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total transaction of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,097,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. The trade was a 26.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 427,366 shares of company stock worth $80,183,723 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ORCL. Bank of America boosted their price target on Oracle from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $180.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given 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 price target of $194.32.

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.