HTLF Bank Invests $6.75 Million in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 63,977 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,745,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,599,200,000 after acquiring an additional 7,883,515 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,586,810 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,815,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570,528 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,502,544 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,675,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,080 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,718,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,982,630,000 after acquiring an additional 635,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,409,896,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

Oracle stock traded down $0.26 on Friday, reaching $115.74. 2,438,007 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,515,106. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34. The stock has a market cap of $318.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.66, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $119.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.80. Oracle Co. has a twelve month low of $93.29 and a twelve month high of $132.77.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Oracle from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Argus raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. William Blair raised Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Oracle in a report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $141,546,631.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 42.80% 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.