Paloma Partners Management Co Decreases Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Paloma Partners Management Co reduced its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 88.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,509 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 34,178 shares during the quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Oracle were worth $566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Nordwand Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Down 0.5 %

ORCL stock traded down $0.70 during trading on Monday, hitting $138.31. 3,440,378 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,466,213. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $135.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $381.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $99.26 and a 1 year high of $146.59.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.02 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ORCL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Oracle from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Oracle from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total transaction of $34,042,967.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at $379,042,045.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director George H. Conrades sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $2,320,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,976. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,952,500 shares of company stock valued at $277,298,174 over the last three months. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.