Fire Capital Management LLC Buys New Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Fire Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,803 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $800,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Oracle by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,800,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 564,030 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $93,990,000 after acquiring an additional 163,543 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in Oracle by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 43,851 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $7,307,000 after acquiring an additional 4,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,738,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 target price on shares of Oracle and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Westpark Capital began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $7,538,339.30. This represents a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,866 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total transaction of $428,552.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,749,670.92. This trade represents a 8.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,366 shares of company stock valued at $4,015,723. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $163.97 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a market capitalization of $458.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $144.16 and a 200 day moving average of $161.61. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $114.55 and a 52 week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.95%.

About Oracle

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.