Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 0.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) shot up 0.4% during trading on Monday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $200.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Oracle traded as high as $184.73 and last traded at $184.56. 704,892 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 8,222,256 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.74.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings 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 worth $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 131.2% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $552,262,000 after buying an additional 2,219,450 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Oracle by 97.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $532,920,000 after acquiring an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $523.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.69, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $173.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.08.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its 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 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

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.