Ridgewood Investments LLC Grows Stock Position in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 87.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,975 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,259 shares during the quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its holdings in Oracle by 71.6% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 257,378 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $35,984,000 after acquiring an additional 107,404 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.8% in the first quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 10,165 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,421,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.5% in the first quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 711,290 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $99,445,000 after purchasing an additional 10,426 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 12,968 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,258,000 after purchasing an additional 3,299 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $211,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $245.05 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $204.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.65. Oracle Corporation has a 52-week low of $118.86 and a 52-week high of $251.60. The company has a market cap of $688.31 billion, a PE ratio of 56.46, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 87.34%. The company had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Loop Capital set a $135.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $210.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.29.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total transaction of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,097,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. This represents a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total value of $2,646,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,785,531.60. This represents a 23.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 448,669 shares of company stock worth $85,555,309. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.