Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Position Lessened by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 183,258 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 2,460 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Oracle were worth $30,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. State Street Corp grew its position in Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after buying an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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. grew its position in Oracle by 11.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,049,824,000 after purchasing an additional 310,709 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $171.52 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $479.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.94, a PEG ratio of 3.35 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ORCL. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

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.