California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 717,754 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,909,609 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 717,754 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.14% of Oracle worth $651,497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,216,314,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth $930,095,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $26,231,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,069 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 10,723,731 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,787,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.20.

Oracle Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $140.75 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $112.78 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $163.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.22. The stock has a market cap of $393.67 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS 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 return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase 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 1.42%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’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 value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.