Athena Investment Management Sells 151 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Athena Investment Management decreased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,338 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 151 shares during the period. Athena Investment Management’s holdings in Oracle were worth $390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Wealth Group Ltd. bought a new position in Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth $222,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its stake in Oracle by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 6,141 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in Oracle by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 107,441 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. 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 dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ORCL. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.36. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $110.36 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The stock has a market cap of $464.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.