Heartland Bank & Trust Co Lowers Stock Holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co trimmed its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,530 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 167 shares during the quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Oracle were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,112 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,185,000 after buying an additional 3,479 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $908,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 185,893 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $30,977,000 after purchasing an additional 17,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 19,749 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,291,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $183.59 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $174.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $162.79. 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 market capitalization of $513.50 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.51 and a 52-week high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho raised 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

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.