Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 268.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,348 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 68,020 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $9,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased its holdings in Oracle by 298.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 1,268.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 342 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 371 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,294.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,294.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. William Blair raised Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Oracle in a report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.76.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of Oracle stock traded up $0.84 on Friday, reaching $115.80. 4,368,173 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,293,188. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $119.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.27. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $94.41 and a 1-year high of $132.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $318.28 billion, a PE ratio of 30.55, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.03.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. The company 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%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

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.