Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV Buys 4,762 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 109.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,119 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,762 shares during the quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. Wealth Group Ltd. bought a new stake in Oracle during the third quarter worth $222,000. Creative Planning grew its stake in Oracle by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 774,912 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $132,045,000 after purchasing an additional 30,341 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew 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 valued at $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,250 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,917,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the period. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 47.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,094 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 2,273 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 20th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given 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.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $173.50 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $169.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.80. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The stock has a market cap of $485.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.42, 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.