Abacus Planning Group Inc. Sells 80 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,783 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle by 129.0% during the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total value of $648,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $7,538,339.30. This represents a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total value of $291,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, 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 27,366 shares of company stock valued at $4,015,723. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ORCL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Oracle from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Westpark Capital began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.42.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $174.22 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $147.20 and a 200-day moving average of $160.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $487.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.60, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $118.86 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31.

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 company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Oracle 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.