American National Bank & Trust Cuts Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

American National Bank & Trust cut its position in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,759 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 184 shares during the quarter. American National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 148.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after acquiring an additional 7,699,141 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 131.2% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $552,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,450 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Oracle by 97.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $532,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in Oracle by 5,853.1% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $18,993,977,000 after buying an additional 1,514,569 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ORCL. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Oracle from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, JMP Securities upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.42.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,573,181 shares of company stock valued at $225,338,245. 42.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $167.73 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.63. Oracle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $173.99. The company has a market capitalization of $464.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.