Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board trimmed its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 66.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,791 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 5,622 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Oracle were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Oracle by 76.1% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,202,098 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $150,996,000 after acquiring an additional 519,479 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Oracle during the 1st quarter valued at $1,584,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 81.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,627,755 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $204,462,000 after purchasing an additional 729,535 shares in the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the first quarter worth $347,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 23.4% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 189,385 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $23,789,000 after buying an additional 35,855 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ORCL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $192.81 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.68. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $99.26 and a 52-week high of $196.04. The company has a market cap of $534.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.24%.

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.