Nicholas Company Inc. Reduces Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Nicholas Company Inc. trimmed its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,720 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 6,370 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $9,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. GWN Securities Inc. bought a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,852,000. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 123,764 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $20,621,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the period. Glenview Trust co boosted its holdings in Oracle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 284,779 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $47,456,000 after buying an additional 1,705 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its holdings in Oracle by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 9,739 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,623,000 after buying an additional 467 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 19,561 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,260,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ORCL. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.71.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $149.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $417.76 billion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $165.80 and its 200 day moving average is $169.63. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.