First Eagle Investment Management LLC Has $2.05 Billion Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,276,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 1,806,706 shares during the quarter. Oracle comprises 4.6% of First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 0.44% of Oracle worth $2,045,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 89.7% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 129.0% during the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ORCL shares. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.71.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $147.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $412.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.04, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $112.78 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.