Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Position Reduced by Northwest Bancshares Inc.

Northwest Bancshares Inc. trimmed its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 9.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,819 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sachetta LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 94.2% during the third quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 6,919 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,357 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle during the third quarter worth about $70,000. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 62.5% in the third quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 3,494 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $595,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Oracle by 27.5% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 5,678 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $968,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,188,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ORCL. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.52.

Oracle Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $190.76 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $174.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $528.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $191.77.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % 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 link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.