Unionview LLC Cuts Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Unionview LLC lessened its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,926 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Unionview LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after purchasing an additional 310,709 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $181.51 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $507.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.51 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $169.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.67.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ORCL. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Oracle in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.