Safra Catz Sells 2,101,154 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Stock

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

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

• On Friday, January 24th, Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $183.59 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $174.41 and a 200 day moving average of $162.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $106.51 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $513.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.89, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after acquiring an additional 310,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

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.