L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Cuts Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP lowered its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,428 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 499 shares during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,514,569 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,319,604,000 after purchasing an additional 82,551 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 14,599,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,539,268,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191,342 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,339,385 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,300,941,000 after purchasing an additional 697,961 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $133.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.83.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock traded up $1.11 on Friday, reaching $139.19. The stock had a trading volume of 4,518,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,163,030. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $146.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $138.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $383.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.02.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 223.01%. The business had revenue of $14.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total value of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,630,281,802.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total value of $2,068,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total value of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,862,500 shares of company stock valued at $266,776,624 in the last 90 days. 42.80% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.