Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price Up 0.9% – Should You Buy?

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)’s share price shot up 0.9% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $176.52 and last traded at $175.95. 2,016,102 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 8,525,763 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.42.

Oracle Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $491.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.39, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $149.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.86.

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. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $8,010,030.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,146,320 shares of company stock valued at $164,762,400 in the last three months. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,319,604,000 after purchasing an additional 82,551 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,869,816,000 after buying an additional 296,866 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 148.8% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,339,385 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,300,941,000 after buying an additional 697,961 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.