Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $174.42.

ORCL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Oracle from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $7,538,339.30. The trade was a 7.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,049,400.30. This represents a 5.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after purchasing an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares during the last quarter. American Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter valued at about $223,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,501 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $750,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 31,465 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,243,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $150.77 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $143.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $163.90. Oracle has a 1-year low of $114.55 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $421.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 1.33%. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

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.