Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Sells 3,061 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lowered its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 16.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,802 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 3,061 shares during the quarter. Oracle makes up about 1.4% of Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Oracle were worth $2,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 148.8% during the 1st 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 last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 131.2% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $552,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,450 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Oracle by 97.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $532,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 16,023.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5,853.1% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Oracle from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.52.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $181.17 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $165.58 and a 200-day moving average of $143.29. The firm has a market cap of $502.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $99.26 and a twelve month high of $182.10.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Oracle 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.