Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Sold by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund decreased its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 292,068 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 12,600 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Oracle were worth $48,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Oracle by 2.7% during 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 buying an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 2.6% during 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 buying an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Oracle by 11.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 1.8% during 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 buying an additional 310,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Oracle by 0.4% during 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 buying an additional 54,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the topic of several research reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $167.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $469.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $168.99 and its 200-day moving average is $167.29. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $109.66 and a 52-week high of $198.31. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.