Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 35,300 Shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its stake in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 12.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 256,768 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 35,300 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Oracle were worth $35,899,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 189.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 153,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $25,593,000 after purchasing an additional 100,494 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,418 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $903,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,745,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 1,633.3% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 106,149 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $17,689,000 after buying an additional 100,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 131.2% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 46,815 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $7,801,000 after buying an additional 26,565 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on ORCL shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Roth Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Oracle from $215.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Oracle from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.75.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL stock opened at $244.40 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $227.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $179.21. Oracle Corporation has a 52-week low of $118.86 and a 52-week high of $260.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $686.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.31, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 87.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.99, for a total transaction of $2,329,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 40,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,507,622.93. The trade was a 19.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.10, for a total transaction of $3,211,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 60,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,000,580.20. The trade was a 19.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 444,183 shares of company stock worth $86,521,198 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

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.