Poplar Forest Capital LLC Sells 1,050 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Poplar Forest Capital LLC lowered its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,138 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 1,050 shares during the quarter. Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 298.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1,268.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 342 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 139.4% in the 4th quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 371 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ORCL traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $115.39. The stock had a trading volume of 5,787,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,500,789. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.05. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $93.29 and a twelve month high of $132.77. The firm has a market cap of $317.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a return on equity of 336.11% and a net margin of 20.27%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.96 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp started coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Argus upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, William Blair upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.