Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 32.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 832,926 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 405,885 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Oracle were worth $141,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Oracle by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 11.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased 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 during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,489,345,000 after purchasing an additional 54,868 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ORCL shares. Melius raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $183.63.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $175.17 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $180.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $489.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.86, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.03. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $99.36 and a 1-year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle 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.