Aviso Financial Inc. Sells 898 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Aviso Financial Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,331 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 898 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Oracle by 0.5% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 97,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 54,868 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Up 1.2 %

ORCL opened at $149.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $112.78 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $417.76 billion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $165.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.41.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday. Twelve 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.71.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.