Scientech Research LLC Sells 2,190 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Scientech Research LLC decreased its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 56.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 2,190 shares during the quarter. Scientech Research LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Oracle by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,319,604,000 after buying an additional 82,551 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,869,816,000 after buying an additional 296,866 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 148.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after buying an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,339,385 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,300,941,000 after acquiring an additional 697,961 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ORCL. Melius Research upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JMP Securities raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $60,575,844.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $60,575,844.51. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at $372,764,079.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,573,181 shares of company stock valued at $225,338,245. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Oracle Stock Up 1.0 %

ORCL stock opened at $170.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.11. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $173.99. The company has a market capitalization of $472.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.