Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Sector Perform Rating for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reissued by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $165.00 price objective on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential downside of 13.92% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.52.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $191.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Oracle has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $196.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $531.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $178.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.32.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after buying an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Oracle by 15.3% in the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,502,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,160,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Oracle by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $48,813,000 after purchasing an additional 126,985 shares during the period. Finally, Miura Global Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,704,000. 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.