Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 29.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 318,903 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 135,081 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $54,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in Oracle by 15.3% during the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in Oracle during the third quarter valued at about $4,160,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Oracle by 79.6% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $48,813,000 after buying an additional 126,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckley Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,370 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,256,000 after buying an additional 2,870 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $192.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $534.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.69, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $99.26 and a one year high of $196.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.68. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Melius upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.52.

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.