Umpqua Bank Raises Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Umpqua Bank grew its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,109 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the quarter. Umpqua Bank’s holdings in Oracle were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ORCL. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 129.0% in the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $152.83 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $164.87 and its 200-day moving average is $169.85. The stock has a market cap of $427.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $112.78 and a twelve month high of $198.31.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

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.