Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by Parnassus Investments LLC

Parnassus Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 51.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,439,246 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 3,704,750 shares during the quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $573,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Oracle by 21.9% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 1.5% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $650,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank boosted its stake in Oracle by 0.8% in the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Oracle by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 1,423 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Oracle Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $147.41 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $166.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.34. The stock has a market cap of $412.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $112.78 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Oracle Company 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.