Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by River Global Investors LLP

River Global Investors LLP reduced its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,735 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 2,558 shares during the period. River Global Investors LLP’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its stake in Oracle by 298.4% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new position in Oracle in the third quarter worth $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 1,268.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 342 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 371 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ORCL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. HSBC increased their price target on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. William Blair upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,294.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,546,631.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL traded up $0.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $115.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,484,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,128,065. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $94.41 and a fifty-two week high of $132.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $119.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

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.