Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) CEO Safra Catz Sells 345,174 Shares

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Safra Catz also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, January 22nd, Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90.

Oracle Trading Down 1.5 %

ORCL opened at $183.59 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $513.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.51 and a twelve month high of $198.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.64.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

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.