Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 177,721 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 23.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 576,288 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 177,721 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $60,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Oracle by 9,299.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $865,472,000 after buying an additional 8,084,067 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $15,599,200,000 after buying an additional 7,883,515 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in Oracle by 313.4% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 1,766,621 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $186,255,000 after buying an additional 1,339,311 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 26,602.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,259,550 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $132,794,000 after buying an additional 1,254,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Oracle by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,168,969 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $331,221,000 after buying an additional 825,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Argus raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, HSBC increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.76.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total value of $2,903,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,294.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $115.80 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.32. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $94.41 and a 12-month high of $132.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34. The company has a market cap of $318.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.55, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.03.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

About Oracle

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.