Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 428,422 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 255,980 shares during the quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $51,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in Oracle by 94,707.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,122,984,792 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $133,736,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,800,302 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,409,896,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 112,785.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,832,530 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $885,451,000 after purchasing an additional 10,822,934 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 10,989,627 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,021,156,000 after purchasing an additional 3,664,269 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,369,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,264,450,000 after purchasing an additional 2,644,377 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Oracle from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $112.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 12th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $82.50 to $110.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 21st. Finally, Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, September 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.23.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 2,325 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.76, for a total transaction of $264,492.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,029,023.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL traded up $0.65 during trading on Monday, hitting $116.01. The stock had a trading volume of 1,215,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,852,380. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.75. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $78.06 and a 12 month high of $127.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.72. The firm has a market cap of $317.80 billion, a PE ratio of 34.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.03.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 18.40% and a negative return on equity of 3,631.39%. The company had revenue of $12.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 12th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 11th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 47.62%.

Oracle 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.