Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. cut its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,966 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 1,189 shares during the quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 97.7% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,034 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $7,912,000 after buying an additional 27,685 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 36.0% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 147,705 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $20,856,000 after acquiring an additional 39,107 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 6.9% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 95,803 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $13,527,000 after acquiring an additional 6,215 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 30.3% in the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 15,296 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 3,554 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,325,265 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $469,527,000 after purchasing an additional 53,809 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

Oracle stock opened at $161.05 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $175.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $161.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $450.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.51 and a 12-month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

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.