Kovack Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,358 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. Oracle makes up approximately 0.6% of Kovack Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $5,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 298.4% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1,268.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 342 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 371 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL traded up $2.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $117.21. 8,253,920 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,478,005. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $93.29 and a fifty-two week high of $132.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $322.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.11.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ORCL. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.76.

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.