Birch Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Birch Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,194 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 440 shares during the quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Contour Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $231,203,000 after buying an additional 643,490 shares during the last quarter. Sandy Spring Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 78,049 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $8,229,000 after buying an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 29,301 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,089,000 after buying an additional 3,291 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 5,986 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $631,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 16,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,792,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Oracle from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. William Blair upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Oracle from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Oracle from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Oracle news, Director Michael J. Boskin sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.74, for a total transaction of $5,298,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 87,473 shares in the company, valued at $10,299,071.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 880,000 shares of company stock valued at $110,488,150. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of ORCL traded down $1.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $141.50. The company had a trading volume of 14,930,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,410,959. The company has a market capitalization of $388.91 billion, a PE ratio of 38.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $99.26 and a one year high of $145.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $123.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.11.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. The company had revenue of $14.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

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.