Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 819 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,725 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 819 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $3,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Oracle by 9,299.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $865,472,000 after purchasing an additional 8,084,067 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 5.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,599,200,000 after purchasing an additional 7,883,515 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in Oracle by 313.4% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 1,766,621 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $186,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,311 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 26,602.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,259,550 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $132,794,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Oracle by 35.2% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,168,969 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $331,221,000 after purchasing an additional 825,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL stock opened at $117.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $93.29 and a 12 month high of $132.77. The firm has a market cap of $322.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $119.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.11.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

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.