Gould Capital LLC Lowers Stake in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Gould Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 37.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 511 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 311 shares during the period. Gould Capital LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,925,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $22,498,982,000 after acquiring an additional 3,513,464 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Oracle by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,741,423 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,760,048,000 after buying an additional 120,889 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,825,360 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,303,858,000 after buying an additional 2,350,448 shares in the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 12,609,101 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,762,878,000 after buying an additional 1,885,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,975,191 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,534,624,000 after buying an additional 94,236 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (up from $145.00) on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, June 13th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.04.

Oracle Trading Down 0.9%

ORCL opened at $233.0010 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.32. Oracle Corporation has a 1-year low of $118.86 and a 1-year high of $260.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $654.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.43.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, Director Rona Alison Fairhead purchased 480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $233.87 per share, for a total transaction of $112,257.60. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,170,865.70. This represents a 2.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.10, for a total transaction of $3,211,500.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 60,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,000,580.20. This represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 444,183 shares of company stock worth $86,521,198. 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.