Aviance Capital Partners LLC Trims Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lowered its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 16.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,322 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 1,080 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 8,516 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 12,089 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 8,652 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $916,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,163 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its holdings in Oracle by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 9,443 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total transaction of $2,320,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,976. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $2,320,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,976. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 835,000 shares of company stock worth $105,189,850. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ORCL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. William Blair raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. KeyCorp started coverage on Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Oracle Trading Down 0.4 %

Oracle stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $117.89. The company had a trading volume of 6,434,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,246,625. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $120.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.03. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $96.10 and a 12-month high of $132.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.