Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by Operose Advisors LLC

Operose Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 98.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 209 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 10,314 shares during the period. Operose Advisors LLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $35,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $26,231,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,069 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $6,332,803,000 after buying an additional 156,269 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $5,954,961,000 after buying an additional 619,619 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $3,366,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722,037 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $2,998,798,000 after acquiring an additional 97,635 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ORCL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price objective on Oracle and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $176.73.

Oracle Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Oracle stock traded down $1.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $128.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,919,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,309,665. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.61. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $359.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. 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 (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $7,538,339.30. This trade represents a 7.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,453,328 shares of company stock valued at $454,439,851. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

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.