Eads & Heald Wealth Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Eads & Heald Wealth Management decreased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,536 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 365 shares during the quarter. Oracle comprises about 1.3% of Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its position in Oracle by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 88,854 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $9,368,000 after acquiring an additional 26,258 shares during the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in Oracle by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 10,682 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,126,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Legacy CG LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at $3,360,000. Keel Point LLC increased its position in Oracle by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 5,313 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in Oracle by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 13,158 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL stock traded down $1.23 during trading on Monday, reaching $119.88. The company had a trading volume of 5,070,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,692,709. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $119.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.53. The company has a market cap of $329.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $93.29 and a twelve month high of $132.77.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ORCL. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 42.80% 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.