ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 84,454 Shares of Oracle Corporation $ORCL

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCLFree Report) by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 394,449 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 84,454 shares during the quarter. Oracle makes up 3.9% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $110,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ORCL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,275,378,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 164,278,874 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $35,916,290,000 after purchasing an additional 3,353,461 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the second quarter worth $731,512,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 42.1% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,839,166 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,932,507,000 after buying an additional 2,619,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 840.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,119,473 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $463,380,000 after buying an additional 1,894,157 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $198.00 on Friday. Oracle Corporation has a 52 week low of $118.86 and a 52 week high of $345.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $224.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.43. The company has a market cap of $568.88 billion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCLGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $16.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.19 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 70.60%. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jeffrey Berg sold 49,365 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.02, for a total value of $13,971,282.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 151,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,018,756.98. This represents a 24.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stuart Levey sold 19,758 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $5,927,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,429 shares in the company, valued at $5,528,700. This represents a 51.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 131,346 shares of company stock valued at $36,129,646 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Rothschild Redb upgraded Oracle to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. They set a “sell” rating and a $175.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Oracle from $365.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Oracle from $380.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.72.

View Our Latest Analysis on ORCL

Key Stores Impacting Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

Oracle Company Profile

(Free Report)

Oracle Corporation is a multinational technology company that develops and sells database software, cloud engineered systems, enterprise software applications and related services. The company is widely known for its flagship Oracle Database and a portfolio of enterprise-grade software products that support data management, application development, analytics and middleware. Over recent years Oracle has expanded its focus to include cloud infrastructure and cloud applications, positioning itself as a provider of both platform and software-as-a-service solutions for large organizations.

Oracle’s product and service offerings include Oracle Database and the Autonomous Database, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management (HCM) and supply chain management (SCM) cloud applications (often grouped under Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications), middleware such as WebLogic, and developer technologies including Java and MySQL.

Recommended Stories

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ORCL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCLFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

Receive News & Ratings for Oracle Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Oracle and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.