South Dakota Investment Council Sells 2,022 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

South Dakota Investment Council reduced its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 63,101 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 2,022 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Oracle were worth $10,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the third 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 last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after purchasing an additional 310,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew 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 worth $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Down 4.6 %

Oracle stock opened at $167.92 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.29. The company has a market cap of $469.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $109.66 and a 52-week 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.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.