Marathon Asset Management Ltd Sells 27,780 Shares of Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Marathon Asset Management Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 144,824 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 27,780 shares during the quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $28,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 174,802,084 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $34,070,674,000 after buying an additional 5,841,584 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Oracle by 1.2% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 23,310,827 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $6,555,961,000 after buying an additional 266,588 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Oracle by 0.8% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,938,457 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,357,572,000 after buying an additional 98,693 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Oracle by 3.4% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,696,752 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,289,595,000 after buying an additional 381,572 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 16.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,303,992 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,897,895,000 after buying an additional 1,464,826 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Oracle from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $313.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Monday, February 9th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $254.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $213.00 to $207.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $400.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $261.46.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, EVP Stuart Levey sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.19, for a total transaction of $2,642,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,429 shares in the company, valued at $604,155.51. This trade represents a 81.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 40.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle’s defense AI business is expanding, including new U.S. Department of Defense work and an $88 million Air Force cloud modernization contract through 2028, which adds to the company’s growing backlog in secure AI and cloud infrastructure. Oracle’s Expanding Defense AI Role And What It Could Mean For Investors
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Oracle as a potential AI infrastructure beneficiary, with some noting meaningful upside as hyperscalers and enterprise customers keep investing in AI and quantum-related infrastructure. 2 Quantum Hyperscaler Stocks With 30% Price Target to Watch in May
• Positive Sentiment: A new market report highlights strong long-term demand for behavioral and mental health software, a healthcare IT category that can support Oracle’s broader cloud and enterprise software ecosystem. Global Behavioral and Mental Health Software Market Size/Share Worth USD 11.9 Billion by 2035

Oracle Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $181.36 on Wednesday. Oracle Corporation has a 12 month low of $134.57 and a 12 month high of $345.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.90. The firm has a market cap of $521.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.56, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.55.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.08. Oracle had a net margin of 25.30% and a return on equity of 62.70%. The business had revenue of $17.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.47 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Oracle has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.960-2.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.91%.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation is a multinational technology company that develops and sells database software, cloud engineered systems, enterprise software applications and related services. The company is widely known for its flagship Oracle Database and a portfolio of enterprise-grade software products that support data management, application development, analytics and middleware. Over recent years Oracle has expanded its focus to include cloud infrastructure and cloud applications, positioning itself as a provider of both platform and software-as-a-service solutions for large organizations.

Oracle’s product and service offerings include Oracle Database and the Autonomous Database, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management (HCM) and supply chain management (SCM) cloud applications (often grouped under Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications), middleware such as WebLogic, and developer technologies including Java and MySQL.