Leuthold Group LLC Sells 2,686 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Leuthold Group LLC lowered its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 73,274 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 2,686 shares during the quarter. Oracle makes up about 1.5% of Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $12,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC raised its position in Oracle by 1.5% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $650,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank lifted its holdings in Oracle by 0.8% in the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Requisite Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $908,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $167.92 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.02. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $109.66 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The firm has a market cap of $469.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle 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.