Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by Easterly Investment Partners LLC

Easterly Investment Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,729 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 4,194 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $11,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,319,604,000 after acquiring an additional 82,551 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Oracle by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,869,816,000 after acquiring an additional 296,866 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 148.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after acquiring an additional 7,699,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Oracle by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,318,962 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,033,430,000 after purchasing an additional 424,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Oracle from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.52.

Oracle Stock Up 1.6 %

Oracle stock traded up $2.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $189.34. 2,175,152 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,255,408. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $189.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $165.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.29. The stock has a market cap of $524.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. 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 0.85%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.24%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company 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.