Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price Up 2.4% After Analyst Upgrade

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)’s stock price shot up 2.4% on Wednesday after Argus raised their price target on the stock from $145.00 to $159.00. Argus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Oracle traded as high as $145.06 and last traded at $144.64. 11,629,395 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 13% from the average session volume of 10,250,644 shares. The stock had previously closed at $141.31.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,071,294.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Oracle news, Director George H. Conrades sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total value of $2,903,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,071,294.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael J. Boskin sold 45,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.74, for a total value of $5,298,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 87,473 shares in the company, valued at $10,299,071.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 880,000 shares of company stock worth $110,488,150 in the last three months. 42.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the first quarter worth $25,000. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new stake in Oracle in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Nordwand Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Down 1.2 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $122.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $392.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

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.