Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 1.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) rose 1.4% during trading on Friday after Guggenheim raised their price target on the stock from $185.00 to $200.00. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock. Oracle traded as high as $173.94 and last traded at $163.72. Approximately 12,622,169 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 51% from the average daily volume of 8,379,033 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.38.

ORCL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,630,281,802.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock valued at $266,776,624 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. The stock has a market cap of $454.16 billion, a PE ratio of 44.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $139.50 and its 200 day moving average is $129.55.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted 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. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

About Oracle

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.