Farther Finance Advisors LLC Purchases 6,588 Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 48,654 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,588 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $8,108,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position 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 during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 383.4% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after purchasing an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $144.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $112.78 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The company has a market capitalization of $403.58 billion, a PE ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $166.82 and a 200-day moving average of $169.62.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ORCL. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.92.

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.