Analysts Set Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Target Price at $163.88

Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $166.13.

ORCL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Oracle from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $60,575,844.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,573,181 shares of company stock valued at $225,338,245 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Brio Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Brio Consultants LLC now owns 2,942 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 3,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. bought a new stake in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $359,000. Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $290,000. Finally, 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 90,285 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $9,519,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $165.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $456.92 billion, a PE ratio of 44.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $143.22 and a 200 day moving average of $132.84. Oracle has a 52 week low of $99.26 and a 52 week high of $173.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.