Caxton Associates LP Sells 18,611 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Caxton Associates LP lowered its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 90.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,954 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 18,611 shares during the quarter. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in Oracle were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Oracle by 148.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,384,162 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,938,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323,334 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 131.2% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $552,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,450 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 97.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $532,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 30,724.3% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,056,289 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $216,795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,049,618 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 0.3 %

ORCL opened at $168.67 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $144.96 and a 200 day moving average of $133.69. The company has a market cap of $464.82 billion, a PE ratio of 45.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $173.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ORCL. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $60,575,844.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Oracle news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $60,575,844.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,010,030.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,573,181 shares of company stock valued at $225,338,245 in the last three months. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

About Oracle

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.