Analysts Set Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) PT at $179.71

Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $179.71.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ORCL shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th.

Oracle Stock Up 1.2 %

Oracle stock opened at $149.36 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $417.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Oracle has a one year low of $112.78 and a one year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 89.7% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.