Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,994 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Oracle were worth $16,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after buying an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2,899.0% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 913,700 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $155,694,000 after purchasing an additional 883,233 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $183.59 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $174.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.64. The stock has a market cap of $513.50 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.51 and a 52-week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.87%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.