Donaldson Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,496 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 548 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 11.6% in the third 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 last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,998,798,000 after buying an additional 97,635 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after buying an additional 54,868 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.92.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $144.29 on Wednesday. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $166.82 and a 200 day moving average of $169.62. The stock has a market cap of $403.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

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.