Verity Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Verity Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,844 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 268 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 16,023.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,275 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 valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 279.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $201,759,000 after purchasing an additional 891,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $167.98 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $171.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $163.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $469.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.07, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.51 and a 1-year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

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

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.