Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 4,422 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 121,557 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 4,422 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $12,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 81,382 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $8,580,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 108.8% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,733 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $6,614,000 after acquiring an additional 32,684 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 43,911 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $4,630,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $478,000. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 14,274 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,505,000 after acquiring an additional 6,837 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ORCL. KeyCorp began coverage on Oracle in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL stock traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $117.89. The company had a trading volume of 6,434,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,246,625. The company has a market capitalization of $324.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11, a P/E/G 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 quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $120.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.57.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Oracle Company 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.