Balentine LLC Sells 4,445 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Balentine LLC reduced its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 71.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,781 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 4,445 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in Oracle by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 312 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $650,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Cadence Bank raised its stake in Oracle by 0.8% in the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,296,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $373,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Oracle by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $908,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $178.97 on Tuesday. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s fifty day moving average is $170.42 and its 200 day moving average is $164.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $500.58 billion, a PE ratio of 43.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate 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.