J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. Boosts Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,354 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the quarter. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 129.0% in the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.71.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $149.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $165.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $417.76 billion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.78 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company 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.