Safra Catz Sells 345,174 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stock

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Safra Catz also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, January 22nd, Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $183.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.51 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The stock has a market cap of $513.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.89, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $174.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $162.22.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Oracle by 16,023.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $351,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,275 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 279.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $201,759,000 after purchasing an additional 891,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Company 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.