Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV Purchases Shares of 1,740 Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,740 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 383.4% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares during the period. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ORCL shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective 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, March 11th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.65.

Oracle Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ORCL opened at $142.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $397.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. 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 50 day moving average price is $162.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.02. Oracle Co. has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week high of $198.31.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Company 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.