Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 32.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 832,926 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 405,885 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Oracle were worth $141,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after buying an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,160,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 79.6% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $48,813,000 after purchasing an additional 126,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miura Global Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the third quarter worth approximately $1,704,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. BNP Paribas raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.63.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $175.17 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $489.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.86, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.03. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.36 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.36.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.