Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 2.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) rose 2.2% during mid-day trading on Monday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $160.00 to $186.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Oracle traded as high as $178.71 and last traded at $177.79. Approximately 3,368,986 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 9,488,934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.02.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Oracle from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective 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, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of the business’s 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 owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $8,785,531.60. The trade was a 23.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,866 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total transaction of $428,552.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,749,670.92. This trade represents a 8.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,366 shares of company stock worth $4,015,723. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $6,332,803,000 after buying an additional 156,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,954,961,000 after purchasing an additional 619,619 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,366,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Oracle by 0.6% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,741,423 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,760,048,000 after purchasing an additional 120,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $147.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.13. The company has a market capitalization of $495.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32.

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

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.