Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) CEO Sells $99,966,600.00 in Stock

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Oracle Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $125.28 on Thursday. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $89.48 and a 1 year high of $132.77. The firm has a market cap of $344.33 billion, a PE ratio of 33.06, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.37.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ORCL. Argus raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 73,791 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,105,000 after buying an additional 2,221 shares during the period. AMI Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,467 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,693,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 588,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $48,686,000 after buying an additional 132,920 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 79.6% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,854 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 3,038 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Oracle by 125.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 1,109 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.