JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Sells 136,474 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd cut its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,391,121 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 136,474 shares during the quarter. Oracle makes up about 1.3% of JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $229,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,231,127,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,069 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,332,803,000 after purchasing an additional 156,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,954,961,000 after buying an additional 619,619 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,366,531,000 after buying an additional 1,722,037 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Oracle by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,620,534 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,269,566,000 after buying an additional 2,176,892 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,049,400.30. The trade was a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,538,339.30. The trade was a 7.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,366 shares of company stock valued at $4,015,723 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $150.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $420.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.72, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.27. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $114.55 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The business’s 50 day moving average is $142.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $162.95. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s quarterly 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 46.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (down previously from $190.00) on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price objective on Oracle and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Fourteen equities 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.42.

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.