Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Trims Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lessened its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,360 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 74 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 201.7% in the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its stake in Oracle by 383.4% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares during the period. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $1,800,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 1.2 %

ORCL opened at $149.36 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $112.78 and a one year high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $417.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.41.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ORCL. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.71.

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.