Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading 4.3% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) shares shot up 4.3% on Monday after Melius Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The company traded as high as $169.86 and last traded at $168.92. 8,104,051 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 8,461,667 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.03.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ORCL. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.88.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total transaction of $34,042,967.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,042,045.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total transaction of $34,042,967.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock worth $266,776,624 in the last 90 days. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $472.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.57.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. 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.