Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $59.14 Million Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 354,868 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,559 shares during the period. Oracle makes up about 0.5% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Oracle were worth $59,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 12.4% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $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% in the 3rd 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. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,590,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,961 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Oracle in the third quarter worth approximately $1,531,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total value of $648,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 through the SEC website. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,453,328 shares of company stock valued at $454,439,851 over the last three months. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on ORCL shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.73.

Oracle Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $128.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $150.85 and a 200-day moving average of $166.33. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $112.78 and a one year high of $198.31. The stock has a market cap of $359.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. 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 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 for 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%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.