Perritt Capital Management Inc Reduces Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Perritt Capital Management Inc trimmed its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 56.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,002 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 3,968 shares during the quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Oracle were worth $500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $26,231,127,000 after buying an additional 2,296,069 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Oracle by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,954,961,000 after purchasing an additional 619,619 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,366,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,722,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,998,798,000 after purchasing an additional 97,635 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ORCL. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays lowered their target price on Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.65.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $142.05 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $162.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.02. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $397.32 billion, a PE ratio of 34.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 46.95%.

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.