Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Sells 70 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA trimmed its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,087 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Oracle were worth $681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after buying an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,998,798,000 after purchasing an additional 97,635 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. This trade 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 company insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $110.36 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $464.55 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $168.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ORCL. 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” 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. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

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.