Heartland Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Oracle Corporation by 46.3%, owning 6,017 shares valued at approximately $841,000 after selling 5,185 shares.
• Insiders, including Clayton M. Magouyrk, sold a total of 448,669 shares of Oracle stock valued at over $85 million in the last ninety days.
• Oracle reported a quarterly revenue of $15.90 billion, exceeding analyst estimates, along with an EPS of $1.70 for the period ending June 11th.

Heartland Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 46.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,017 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 5,185 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its position in Oracle by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 5,731 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $955,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Stage Harbor Financial LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Stage Harbor Financial LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. lifted its position in Oracle by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 4,149 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $691,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 4,333 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $606,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 556 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Oracle from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $218.29.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $249.45. 2,109,128 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,042,052. The business's fifty day moving average price is $207.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $700.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 1.39. Oracle Corporation has a 52 week low of $118.86 and a 52 week high of $253.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 87.34%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Oracle's payout ratio is currently 46.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total transaction of $76,168,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,097,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. This represents a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 3,303 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.32, for a total transaction of $770,655.96. Following the sale, the director directly owned 31,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,337,214.04. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 448,669 shares of company stock valued at $85,555,309. Insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

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.