Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,610 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 168 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Group Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 12.4% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.3% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,325,268 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $395,295,000 after buying an additional 53,128 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $133,000. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $610,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $161.75 on Thursday. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $110.67 and a one year high of $198.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $168.31 and a 200 day moving average of $169.10. The company has a market capitalization of $452.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.55, a PEG 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 data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors 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 yield of 0.99%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle 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 value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.