Patten & Patten Inc. TN Increases Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,739 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 467 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,623,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at about $930,095,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 11.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Oracle by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after buying an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in Oracle by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 12,327,164 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,012,943,000 after buying an additional 1,623,609 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 3,805.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 966,571 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $161,069,000 after buying an additional 941,819 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $149.36 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $417.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.71.

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.