Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Trims Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lowered its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 920,680 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 36,377 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Oracle were worth $153,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its stake in Oracle by 4.8% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 11,430 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 20,026 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,412,000 after purchasing an additional 4,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 66.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,835 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 1,928 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 target price on Oracle and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.20.

Oracle Trading Up 1.8 %

ORCL opened at $154.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $433.46 billion, a PE ratio of 37.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $112.78 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $164.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.36.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.