Argyle Capital Management LLC Has $3.91 Million Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Argyle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 23,440 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Oracle comprises approximately 1.5% of Argyle Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Argyle Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $3,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 383.4% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after buying an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL stock opened at $164.71 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $110.36 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $460.68 billion, a PE ratio of 40.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average is $169.00 and its 200-day moving average is $168.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. 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.