Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Lowers Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank decreased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 325,075 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 37,736 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Oracle were worth $34,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 3.1% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 73,791 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,105,000 after buying an additional 2,221 shares in the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 2.9% during the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,467 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,693,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 29.2% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 588,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $48,686,000 after buying an additional 132,920 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 79.6% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,854 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 3,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Oracle by 125.2% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 1,109 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 research firms recently commented on ORCL. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.76.

Oracle Price Performance

Oracle stock opened at $120.62 on Wednesday. Oracle Co. has a 1 year low of $93.29 and a 1 year high of $132.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $119.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.73. The company has a market cap of $331.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.