Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 663 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,285 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 663 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 18,188 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 6,970 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 202,018 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $21,398,000 after acquiring an additional 17,265 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 760,772 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $80,581,000 after acquiring an additional 38,868 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 3,322 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,947 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after acquiring an additional 4,339 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the company’s 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 $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.76.

Oracle Trading Up 0.7 %

ORCL opened at $114.60 on Thursday. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $93.85 and a fifty-two week high of $132.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $314.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.26.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 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 firm had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.