Ancora Advisors LLC Sells 258 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Ancora Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,258 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 258 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $4,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,210,181,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Oracle by 148.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in Oracle by 382.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,563,366 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $481,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,617,413 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Oracle by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,384,162 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,938,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 14,599,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,539,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,342 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Oracle from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, July 12th. StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.83.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL traded up $3.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $138.73. 4,724,001 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,425,540. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $99.26 and a twelve month high of $146.59. The company has a market cap of $382.32 billion, a PE ratio of 37.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.87.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 223.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Michael J. Boskin sold 45,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 87,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,299,071.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of Oracle 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 transaction, the director now owns 17,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,976. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,927,500 shares of company stock valued at $274,394,924. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.