High Falls Advisors Inc Has $569,000 Stock Position in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

High Falls Advisors Inc lifted its position in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,071 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. High Falls Advisors Inc’s holdings in Oracle were worth $569,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ORCL. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its position in Oracle by 71.6% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 257,378 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $35,984,000 after acquiring an additional 107,404 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. increased its position in Oracle by 4.3% during the first quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 51,350 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $7,179,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the first quarter worth $732,692,000. Rockland Trust Co. increased its position in Oracle by 4.8% during the first quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 10,165 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 711,290 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $99,445,000 after buying an additional 10,426 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Stock Performance

Oracle stock opened at $244.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. Oracle Corporation has a 1 year low of $118.86 and a 1 year high of $260.87. The company has a market cap of $687.86 billion, a PE ratio of 56.43, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $229.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 87.34%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rona Alison Fairhead purchased 480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $233.87 per share, for a total transaction of $112,257.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,170,865.70. The trade was a 2.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.99, for a total transaction of $2,329,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 40,807 shares in the company, valued at $9,507,622.93. This represents a 19.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 444,183 shares of company stock worth $86,521,198 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $221.00 target price (up previously from $202.00) on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, June 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.75.

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.