Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) PT Raised to $157.00

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Citigroup from $140.00 to $157.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 2.70% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.68.

Oracle Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $161.36 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Oracle has a 1 year low of $99.26 and a 1 year high of $162.34. The firm has a market cap of $444.69 billion, a PE ratio of 43.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total value of $2,068,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total value of $2,068,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock valued at $266,776,624. 42.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,210,181,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 148.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,616,855,000 after buying an additional 7,699,141 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Oracle by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,384,162 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,938,242,000 after buying an additional 3,323,334 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 131.2% in 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 buying an additional 2,219,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 14,599,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,539,268,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191,342 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Company 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.