Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Cuts Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,074,850 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 45,197 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $345,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Oracle by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 201.7% in the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its position in Oracle by 383.4% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after purchasing an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.20.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $140.75 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $393.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.95%.

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.