John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 100 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,630 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,210,181,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Oracle by 9,299.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $865,472,000 after acquiring an additional 8,084,067 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 7,883,515 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Oracle by 382.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,563,366 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $481,820,000 after acquiring an additional 3,617,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Oracle by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,384,162 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,938,242,000 after acquiring an additional 3,323,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock traded up $0.71 on Thursday, reaching $142.78. The stock had a trading volume of 5,245,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,618,818. The stock has a market cap of $393.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $99.26 and a 1 year high of $145.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.43.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.57 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen increased their target price on Oracle from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $2,320,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,976. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Oracle news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total transaction of $34,042,967.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,042,045.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $2,320,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,976. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 812,500 shares of company stock valued at $113,578,574. 42.80% of the stock is 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.