Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC Takes $162,000 Position in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Key Points

• Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Oracle Corporation, purchasing 1,160 shares valued at approximately $162,000 during the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including Nuveen LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC, have significantly increased their stakes in Oracle, with GAMMA's stake rising by 15,012.3% during the same period.
• Oracle recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings with $1.70 earnings per share and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.

Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,160 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock, valued at approximately $162,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the first quarter worth $732,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 15,012.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,755,096 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $664,810,000 after purchasing an additional 4,723,631 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,925,413 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $22,498,982,000 after purchasing an additional 3,513,464 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,825,360 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $2,303,858,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,448 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 79.2% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,638,951 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $648,572,000 after purchasing an additional 2,049,687 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total value of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,097,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. This represents a 26.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.99, for a total value of $2,329,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 40,807 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,507,622.93. This represents a 19.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 444,183 shares of company stock worth $86,521,198. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ORCL shares. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded 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 research note on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Oracle from $135.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Oracle from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $135.00 target price on Oracle in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $227.04.

Oracle Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE ORCL opened at $234.57 on Wednesday. Oracle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $118.86 and a fifty-two week high of $260.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $236.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.72. The stock has a market cap of $658.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.43.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.08%.

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.

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