Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 39,245 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 1,023.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,080 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after buying an additional 39,245 shares during the period. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $6,023,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 1,423 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,621 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC now owns 2,274 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape ANN Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Cape ANN Savings Bank now owns 5,820 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $970,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $174.42.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL traded up $3.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $174.22. 6,828,176 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,518,460. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $118.86 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a market cap of $487.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.60, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $147.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.67.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This is an increase from Oracle's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle's payout ratio is 46.95%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total value of $2,646,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $8,785,531.60. The trade was a 23.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,866 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total value of $428,552.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749,670.92. This represents a 8.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,366 shares of company stock valued at $4,015,723 over the last quarter. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.