WASHINGTON TRUST Co Acquires 156 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,972 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 298.4% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 1,268.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 342 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ORCL. William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Oracle from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 0.4 %

ORCL traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $125.82. 2,853,162 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,151,238. The company has a market cap of $345.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $116.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $89.71 and a one year high of $132.77.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.