Patten & Patten Inc. TN Has $1.62 Million Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 383.4% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after acquiring an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $1,800,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ORCL shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Twelve equities research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.71.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $149.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $417.76 billion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $165.80 and a 200-day moving average of $169.85. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $112.78 and a one year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted 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 return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 42.20% 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.