Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. Lowers Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. trimmed its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,855 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 283 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth $222,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 12.4% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Oracle in the third quarter worth about $1,266,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its stake in Oracle by 15.3% in the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 5,877 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the period. Finally, Trueblood Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 3.6% in the third quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,694 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,163,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $167.92 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $109.66 and a 52-week 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 stock has a market cap of $469.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.06, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $168.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.29.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.