Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 2% on Analyst Upgrade

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)’s stock price traded up 2% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Guggenheim raised their price target on the stock from $185.00 to $200.00. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock. Oracle traded as high as $162.07 and last traded at $160.31. 4,410,247 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 8,297,744 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.18.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ORCL. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen increased their price target on Oracle from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.68.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total value of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Jeffrey Berg sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.12, for a total value of $3,220,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 210,712 shares in the company, valued at $30,157,101.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total value of $161,651,250.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock worth $266,776,624 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle in the second quarter worth $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the second quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $446.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 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 results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.