Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,265 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL opened at $192.29 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $99.26 and a 1 year high of $196.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $532.85 billion, a PE ratio of 49.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.02.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.52.

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.