Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) PT Raised to $145.00 at Morgan Stanley

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its price target raised by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $145.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential downside of 7.72% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on ORCL. StockNews.com lowered shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.68.

Oracle Trading Up 0.8 %

ORCL opened at $157.13 on Tuesday. Oracle has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $160.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $433.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.35, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $139.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.32.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 223.01%. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Oracle will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Oracle news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at $164,630,281,802.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock worth $266,776,624. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Contour Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $231,203,000 after buying an additional 643,490 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 29,301 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,089,000 after buying an additional 3,291 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 16,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,792,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 5,236 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 25.0% in the first quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.