Bell Asset Management Ltd Sells 4,129 Shares of Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Key Points

• Bell Asset Management reduced its Oracle position by 16.7% in the third quarter, selling 4,129 shares and retaining 20,546 shares valued at approximately $2.82 million.
• Oracle shares opened at $135.35, down 5.7%, despite quarterly results that exceeded expectations: adjusted EPS was $1.92 and revenue rose 29.6% year over year to $19.34 billion.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with Oracle receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $251.72; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.

Bell Asset Management Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,546 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 4,129 shares during the period. Oracle makes up approximately 1.0% of Bell Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Bell Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Oracle were worth $2,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sapient Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 7.7% during the third quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 9,743 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the period. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 3.9% in the third quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,974 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Titleist Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 8.8% in the third quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 9,949 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. Apella Capital LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 13.0% during the third quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 18,216 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $2,615,000 after buying an additional 2,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 1.7% during the third quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 10,102 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,387,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle received support from Mizuho, which added the company to its top-picks list and assigned a $320 price target, citing strong demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and AI services. Oracle and these 6 stocks are newest addition to Mizuho Top Picks list
• Positive Sentiment: Oracle signed a virtual power purchase agreement with Scout Clean Energy for most of the output from a 300-megawatt Texas wind farm. The agreement supports Oracle’s plan to invest in more than 1.7 gigawatts of renewable energy in Texas and may improve the long-term power profile of its data-center expansion. Oracle taps Scout Clean for wind power in Texas
• Positive Sentiment: Director Stephen Rusckowski reportedly purchased $3.5 million of Oracle shares, a modest confidence signal amid heightened volatility. Oracle Insider Buys $3.5 Million in Stock Amid OpenAI Swings

Oracle Stock Down 5.7%

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $135.35 on Friday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $146.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.15. The company has a market cap of $409.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Oracle Corporation has a 12-month low of $114.50 and a 12-month high of $322.54.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.18. Oracle had a net margin of 26.36% and a return on equity of 48.85%. The firm had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.47 EPS. The company's revenue was up 29.6% on a year-over-year basis. Oracle has set its Q2 2027 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 8.100-8.100 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 6.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is 31.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $283.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $110.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Oracle from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, September 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $251.72.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Michael Sicilia sold 22,562 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.59, for a total value of $3,420,173.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 182,929 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,730,207.11. This trade represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 2,631 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.70, for a total transaction of $399,122.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 64,357 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,762,956.90. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 36,075 shares of company stock valued at $5,342,123 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 38.40% of the company's stock.

Oracle Profile

Oracle Corporation NYSE: ORCL is a global technology company that develops enterprise software, cloud services and related hardware. Its offerings help businesses manage databases, applications, data, infrastructure and other core information-technology operations.

The company is best known for its Oracle Database, along with cloud-based infrastructure and platform services. Oracle also provides enterprise applications for functions such as finance, human resources, supply-chain management, customer experience and industry-specific operations.

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