New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,021,805 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 35,045 shares during the quarter. Oracle accounts for 0.5% of New York State Common Retirement Fund's portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of Oracle worth $336,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted 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 valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted 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 valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $3,049,824,000 after purchasing an additional 310,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL traded down $8.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $167.92. 9,693,812 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,127,484. The company has a market cap of $469.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $109.66 and a one year high of $198.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $169.10 and a 200 day moving average of $166.74.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $182.73.

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.