Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Decreases Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,725 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 819 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $3,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,599,200,000 after buying an additional 7,883,515 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Oracle by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,718,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,982,630,000 after buying an additional 635,994 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,704,523 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,211,307,000 after buying an additional 61,604 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,471,884 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $897,342,000 after buying an additional 89,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Oracle by 9,299.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $865,472,000 after buying an additional 8,084,067 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 2.0 %

Oracle stock opened at $117.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $93.29 and a 12-month high of $132.77.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.76.

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.