World Equity Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

World Equity Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 48.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,299 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 4,005 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $26,231,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,069 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $6,332,803,000 after acquiring an additional 156,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $5,954,961,000 after acquiring an additional 619,619 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $3,366,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722,037 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Oracle by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,620,534 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $3,269,566,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,892 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. JMP Securities set a $240.00 target price on shares of Oracle and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $196.74.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $205.06 on Friday. Oracle Corporation has a 52-week low of $118.86 and a 52-week high of $216.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $573.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $160.39 and a 200-day moving average of $161.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 87.34%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Oracle's payout ratio is currently 46.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, insider Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.10, for a total transaction of $3,211,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 60,722 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,000,580.20. This represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,538,339.30. The trade was a 7.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 442,366 shares of company stock valued at $83,395,223 in the last quarter. Company 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.

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