Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC Invests $241,000 in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,444 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Westwood Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $900,000. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,222 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Sepio Capital LP now owns 42,882 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $7,146,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. MIG Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the fourth quarter worth $331,000. Finally, Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 2,751 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price objective on Oracle and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.65.

Oracle Trading Down 6.6 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $128.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $358.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.34.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,049,400.30. The trade was a 5.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,448,328 shares of company stock worth $453,791,001 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Profile

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.