Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Sowell Financial Services LLC

Sowell Financial Services LLC decreased its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 26.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,832 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 6,946 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $2,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,231,127,000 after buying an additional 2,296,069 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,332,803,000 after acquiring an additional 156,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Oracle by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,954,961,000 after acquiring an additional 619,619 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,366,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Oracle by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,620,534 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,269,566,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,892 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ORCL. JMP Securities set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Oracle and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Westpark Capital lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (up previously from $145.00) on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Oracle from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $194.32.

Oracle Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $210.94 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $160.49. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $118.86 and a 52 week high of $216.60. The stock has a market cap of $589.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.57, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total transaction of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,097,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,000,421.92. This represents a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,538,339.30. This represents a 7.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 427,366 shares of company stock valued at $80,183,723 over the last three months. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.