Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Has $44.92 Million Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 269,533 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 1,386 shares during the quarter. Oracle accounts for approximately 1.6% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $44,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Wealth Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the third quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 12.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its holdings in Oracle by 16.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 3.9% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in Oracle by 53.1% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 69,686 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $11,875,000 after acquiring an additional 24,174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Oracle to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $464.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.61, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.60. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $110.36 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released 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 company had revenue of $14.06 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

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

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.