Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,746 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after buying an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 279.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $201,759,000 after purchasing an additional 891,842 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $174.53 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.50. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.51 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The firm has a market cap of $488.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.67, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

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