Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 149,630 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 2,943 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $15,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,599,200,000 after purchasing an additional 7,883,515 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Oracle by 2.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,586,810 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,815,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570,528 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Oracle by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,502,544 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,675,878,000 after buying an additional 1,794,080 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Oracle by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,718,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,982,630,000 after buying an additional 635,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,409,896,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Oracle Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ORCL opened at $117.61 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $323.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $93.29 and a one year high of $132.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $119.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.78.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Argus raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.76.

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.