SageView Advisory Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,812 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,975 shares during the quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sandy Spring Bank raised its holdings in Oracle by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 78,049 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $8,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its holdings in Oracle by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 5,986 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $631,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 5,236 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,038 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 208.2% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 885,056 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $93,311,000 after purchasing an additional 597,846 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ORCL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. HSBC raised their price objective on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL stock traded down $1.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $122.91. 7,173,435 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,129,077. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.99. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $98.77 and a 1-year 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 firm has a market cap of $337.82 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.03.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Oracle news, Director Michael J. Boskin sold 45,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.74, for a total value of $5,298,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 87,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,299,071.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,546,631.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 880,000 shares of company stock valued at $110,488,150 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 42.80% 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.