Hendershot Investments Inc. Sells 25,934 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Hendershot Investments Inc. decreased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 25.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 74,167 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 25,934 shares during the period. Oracle makes up approximately 1.7% of Hendershot Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Hendershot Investments Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $12,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.3% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 28,458 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $4,849,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Oracle in the third quarter worth approximately $222,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,668 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. LifePro Asset Management raised its stake in Oracle by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. LifePro Asset Management now owns 4,957 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $845,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 14,290.9% during the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,166 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 3,144 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ORCL. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $174.53 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $170.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $164.35. The firm has a market cap of $488.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.67, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given 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 0.92%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.12%.

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.