Pzena Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Pzena Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 82.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 115,138 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 547,480 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $12,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,599,200,000 after buying an additional 7,883,515 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,718,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,982,630,000 after buying an additional 635,994 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,909,069 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,223,775,000 after buying an additional 204,546 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,210,181,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Oracle by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,471,884 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $897,342,000 after purchasing an additional 89,876 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Boskin sold 45,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.74, for a total value of $5,298,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 87,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,299,071.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 880,000 shares of company stock worth $110,488,150 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. William Blair upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Oracle in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.76.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE:ORCL traded down $0.03 on Thursday, reaching $124.57. 1,297,007 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,959,704. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.83. The firm has a market cap of $342.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.03. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $97.29 and a 12 month high of $132.77.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.