Aviance Capital Partners LLC Buys 1,215 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 22.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,537 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,215 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth about $1,210,181,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Oracle by 9,299.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $865,472,000 after acquiring an additional 8,084,067 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $15,599,200,000 after purchasing an additional 7,883,515 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 382.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,563,366 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $481,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,617,413 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Oracle by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,384,162 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,938,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323,334 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Oracle from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Oracle from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.83.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL stock opened at $143.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.71. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $99.26 and a one year high of $145.32. The firm has a market cap of $394.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.02.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. The business had revenue of $14.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total transaction of $34,042,967.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,042,045.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total value of $2,903,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,294.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total transaction of $34,042,967.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 385,639 shares of company stock worth $53,002,729. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

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.