Homestead Advisers Corp Grows Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Homestead Advisers Corp grew its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 293,000 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,200 shares during the quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp’s holdings in Oracle were worth $48,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,019 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $411,748,000 after buying an additional 121,874 shares during the period. United Bank raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 4.8% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 11,430 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,948,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 16.8% in the third quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Finally, Cadence Bank increased its position in Oracle by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $147.71 on Thursday. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $112.78 and a 52-week high of $198.31. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.28. The company has a market capitalization of $413.15 billion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.