Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Buys New Shares in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,315 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $139,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 298.4% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1,268.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 342 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 371 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of Oracle stock traded down $1.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $114.88. 8,251,495 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,931,178. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $119.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.85. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $93.29 and a 1-year high of $132.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. Oracle’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ORCL. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Oracle Company 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.