Meritage Portfolio Management Raises Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 41.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,412 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Oracle were worth $360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its holdings in Oracle by 298.4% in the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new position in Oracle in the third quarter worth $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 1,268.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 342 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle by 139.4% in the fourth quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 371 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 42.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of Oracle stock traded up $2.82 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $117.71. The stock had a trading volume of 6,096,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,447,765. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $93.29 and a twelve month 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. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $119.30 and its 200 day moving average is $113.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $323.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.31, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

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.