Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,400 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 3,600 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Oracle were worth $14,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Oracle by 16,023.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $351,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,275 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 279.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $201,759,000 after acquiring an additional 891,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Trading Down 1.0 %

Oracle stock opened at $177.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $495.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.32, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $170.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly 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). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp raised their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.