Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Has $10.90 Million Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,433 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 720 shares during the period. Oracle comprises about 1.5% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $10,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 48,008 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $8,000,000 after buying an additional 3,023 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,013 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,669,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 21,781 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,630,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,756 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $167.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $469.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $109.66 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.29.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

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.