Simon Quick Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC cut its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,945 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 4,071 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Nordwand Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Oracle during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ORCL. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Oracle from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Oracle from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at $379,042,045.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Oracle news, Director Jeffrey Berg sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.12, for a total value of $3,220,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 210,712 shares in the company, valued at $30,157,101.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total transaction of $34,042,967.40. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 valued at $266,776,624. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL stock opened at $140.71 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $99.26 and a 12-month high of $146.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $387.78 billion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

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.