Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) CEO Safra Catz Sells 345,174 Shares of Stock

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Safra Catz also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, January 22nd, Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90.

Oracle Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $183.59 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.51 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $162.22. The company has a market cap of $513.50 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 89.7% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ORCL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

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.