Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC reduced its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 848,151 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 37,119 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $141,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 129.0% in the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total value of $291,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,630 shares in the company, valued at $5,049,400.30. The trade was a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 value 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 trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,448,328 shares of company stock worth $453,791,001. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.65.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $128.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $358.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $112.78 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.38.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

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.