Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 347 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,970 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 347 shares during the quarter. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 12.4% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after buying an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its position in Oracle by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,430 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,948,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Oracle by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 168,174 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $28,657,000 after purchasing an additional 20,469 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth about $252,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $152.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $427.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $112.78 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $164.87 and a 200-day moving average of $170.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.95%.

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.