Sigma Planning Corp Lowers Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 55.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,422 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 15,385 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 5.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $15,599,200,000 after purchasing an additional 7,883,515 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 3.5% in the third 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.5% in the third 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.1% in the third 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 during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 9,299.3% in the third 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, HSBC lifted their price objective on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $114.53 on Tuesday. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $93.29 and a twelve month high of $132.77. The firm has a market cap of $314.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.22, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $119.21 and a 200 day moving average of $113.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.