Chase Investment Counsel Corp Decreases Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp cut its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,092 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 326 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings in Oracle were worth $4,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 129.0% in the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $166.09 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $168.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.36. 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 PE ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

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.