Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lowered its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 219,783 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 1,140 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $31,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,210,181,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 148.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,616,855,000 after buying an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Oracle by 382.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,563,366 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $481,820,000 after acquiring an additional 3,617,413 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Oracle by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,384,162 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,938,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 131.2% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $552,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,042,045.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,630,281,802.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock worth $266,776,624. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Oracle from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.83.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE:ORCL traded up $1.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $141.29. 7,980,679 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,052,333. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $99.26 and a 1 year high of $146.59. The company has a market cap of $389.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $138.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $127.34.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. The company had revenue of $14.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

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.