Guggenheim Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $220.00 price objective on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 26.28% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stephens began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Oracle and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.42.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $174.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $487.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.60, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32. Oracle has a 1 year low of $118.86 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.67. 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 posted its 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total transaction of $2,646,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,785,531.60. The trade was a 23.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares in the company, valued at $5,049,400.30. This trade represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,366 shares of company stock worth $4,015,723. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $2,216,314,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $930,095,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Oracle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $732,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 15,012.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,755,096 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $664,810,000 after acquiring an additional 4,723,631 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,925,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $22,498,982,000 after acquiring an additional 3,513,464 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.