Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Trims Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 27.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 980 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ORCL. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its holdings in Oracle by 55.5% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 23,585 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,487,000 after buying an additional 8,421 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $2,016,000. Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its stake in Oracle by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 20,516 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 2,227 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,132,000. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 180,474 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $19,027,000 after acquiring an additional 6,549 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, William Blair upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.76.

Oracle Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $119.88 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $119.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.63. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $93.29 and a 1-year high of $132.77. The company has a market cap of $329.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 42.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.