Pecaut & CO. Sells 1,975 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Pecaut & CO. cut its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,577 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 1,975 shares during the quarter. Pecaut & CO.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter worth about $930,095,000. Polen Capital Management LLC grew its position in Oracle by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 10,723,731 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,787,003,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955,764 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Oracle by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 12,327,164 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,012,943,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623,609 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $152.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $427.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $164.90 and a 200 day moving average of $169.77.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. 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 1.31%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.95%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.