Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Key Points

• Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Oracle Corporation by 7.1% during the first quarter, selling 8,425 shares, leaving them with 110,046 shares valued at $15.4 million.
• Insider trading activity includes Maria Smith, EVP, selling 10,000 shares worth $2.33 million, and Naomi O. Seligman, Director, selling 3,303 shares for approximately $770,656, representing decreases in their respective holdings.
• Bank of America and UBS Group have recently increased their price targets for Oracle shares to $295 and $280 respectively, with an overall average rating of "Moderate Buy."

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 7.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,046 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 8,425 shares during the quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $15,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 107,404 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. raised its position in Oracle by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 10,165 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,421,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC raised its position in Oracle by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 711,290 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $99,445,000 after purchasing an additional 10,426 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 12,968 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $2,258,000 after buying an additional 3,299 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on ORCL. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Loop Capital set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $300.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Oracle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Nine 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $222.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, insider Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.10, for a total value of $3,211,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 60,722 shares in the company, valued at $13,000,580.20. The trade was a 19.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 3,303 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.32, for a total transaction of $770,655.96. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,337,214.04. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 428,303 shares of company stock worth $82,480,056. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Oracle Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of ORCL traded up $0.85 on Wednesday, hitting $256.52. 9,919,562 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,380,186. Oracle Corporation has a one year low of $118.86 and a one year high of $260.87. The company has a market capitalization of $720.51 billion, a PE ratio of 59.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.08%.

About Oracle

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.