Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 108,046 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 11,556 shares during the quarter. Oracle comprises 1.6% of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $18,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Oracle by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its stake in Oracle by 383.4% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after buying an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $27,428,000 after acquiring an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,800,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $173.50 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.59. The firm has a market cap of $485.27 billion, a PE ratio of 42.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

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.