Marathon Asset Management Ltd Cuts Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Marathon Asset Management Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 329,567 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 15,723 shares during the quarter. Oracle accounts for approximately 1.5% of Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $54,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after buying an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 201.7% in the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 383.4% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $27,428,000 after acquiring an additional 32,718 shares during the period. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth $1,800,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Oracle to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $166.09 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $168.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $110.36 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $464.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.61, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

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.