Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 6,837 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,024,658 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 6,837 shares during the period. Oracle makes up approximately 1.2% of Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned 0.07% of Oracle worth $285,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Contour Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $231,203,000 after acquiring an additional 643,490 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 29,301 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 3,291 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 16,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 25.0% in the first quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 55.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,315 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,151,000 after acquiring an additional 7,982 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $167.56 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $173.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $461.77 billion, a PE ratio of 45.16, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $141.83 and its 200-day moving average is $131.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.06 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Melius Research raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total value of $2,068,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,610,402 shares of company stock worth $230,556,257 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

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.