FIL Ltd Sells 82,252 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

FIL Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,073,962 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 82,252 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $178,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Second Line Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 1,423 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $908,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Oracle by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,621 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % 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, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares in the company, valued at $5,049,400.30. This represents a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,448,328 shares of company stock valued at $453,791,001. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ORCL. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.65.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL stock opened at $124.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50-day moving average is $157.88 and its 200-day moving average is $168.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $347.73 billion, a PE ratio of 30.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

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.