SlateStone Wealth LLC Purchases 712 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

SlateStone Wealth LLC grew its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,404 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 712 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $930,095,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Oracle by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 12,327,164 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,012,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 3,805.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 966,571 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $161,069,000 after purchasing an additional 941,819 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Price Performance

Oracle stock opened at $149.36 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $165.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.85. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $417.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price target on shares of Oracle and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Profile

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.