Argyle Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 28.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,100 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 11,400 shares during the quarter. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $3,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 7,883,515 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Oracle by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,718,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,982,630,000 after buying an additional 635,994 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,704,523 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,211,307,000 after buying an additional 61,604 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Oracle by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,471,884 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $897,342,000 after buying an additional 89,876 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Oracle by 9,299.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $865,472,000 after buying an additional 8,084,067 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp began coverage on Oracle in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. HSBC increased their target price on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Argus upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

Oracle Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE ORCL traded up $2.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $117.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,355,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,810,524. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $322.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $119.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.16. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $93.29 and a fifty-two week high of $132.77.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Oracle Company 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.