StoneX Group Inc. Buys New Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

StoneX Group Inc. purchased a new position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 10,611 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,768,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 129.0% during the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 213 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ORCL. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on Oracle in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Stephens began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.65.

Oracle Stock Up 1.6 %

ORCL opened at $142.05 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $162.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.02. 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 stock has a market cap of $397.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle Co. has a 12 month low of $112.78 and a 12 month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.