BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 17.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 429,670 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 89,046 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Oracle were worth $60,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Oracle during the first quarter valued at approximately $732,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Oracle by 15,012.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,755,096 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $664,810,000 after buying an additional 4,723,631 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,925,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $22,498,982,000 after buying an additional 3,513,464 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Oracle by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,825,360 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,303,858,000 after buying an additional 2,350,448 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in Oracle by 268.4% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 3,077,947 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $512,909,000 after buying an additional 2,242,520 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Price Performance

Oracle stock opened at $236.1670 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $663.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.42, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $235.36 and its 200 day moving average is $182.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. Oracle Corporation has a 52-week low of $118.86 and a 52-week high of $260.87.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 87.34%. Oracle’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.08%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Rona Alison Fairhead purchased 480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $233.87 per share, with a total value of $112,257.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at $5,170,865.70. This trade represents a 2.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.32, for a total transaction of $770,655.96. Following the sale, the director directly owned 31,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,337,214.04. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 444,183 shares of company stock valued at $86,521,198 over the last quarter. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ORCL. Roth Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Westpark Capital upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.04.

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.