Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 31st,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the enterprise software provider on Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th.

Oracle has increased its dividend by an average of 16.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Oracle has a payout ratio of 22.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Oracle to earn $5.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.3%.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $166.64. The stock had a trading volume of 4,251,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,338,693. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The firm has a market cap of $466.08 billion, a PE ratio of 40.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $179.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.42. Oracle has a one year low of $101.74 and a one year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ORCL. Melius upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.48.

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.