Providence First Trust Co Raises Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Providence First Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 612.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,840 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,318 shares during the quarter. Providence First Trust Co’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the period. 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 worth $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Oracle by 0.5% during 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 buying an additional 97,635 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Oracle by 0.4% during 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 buying an additional 54,868 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Price Performance

Oracle stock opened at $166.09 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $110.36 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $464.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $168.93 and its 200 day moving average is $168.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders 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 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.