Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by DnB Asset Management AS

DnB Asset Management AS decreased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 43.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 323,499 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 244,245 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Oracle were worth $53,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,998,798,000 after acquiring an additional 97,635 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. 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. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.20.

Oracle Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $145.88 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $164.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $408.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.67, a P/E/G 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.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.95%.

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.