Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. Grows Stake in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. raised its position in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,562 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Oracle by 284.9% in the first quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Oracle from $240.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Oracle from $210.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Oracle from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.29.

Oracle Trading Up 0.9%

Oracle stock opened at $250.01 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $207.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.90. 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 Corporation has a 12 month low of $118.86 and a 12 month high of $253.07. The stock has a market cap of $702.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 1.39.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.08%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total value of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.32, for a total transaction of $770,655.96. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,337,214.04. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 448,669 shares of company stock valued at $85,555,309 in the last three months. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.