Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC Takes $47,000 Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 285 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ORCL. Wealth Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at $222,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 12.4% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 16.8% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 6,141 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 3.9% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 53.1% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 69,686 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $11,875,000 after purchasing an additional 24,174 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $464.55 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $168.93 and a 200-day moving average of $168.60. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $110.36 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ORCL. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Company 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.