Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $280.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Oracle traded as high as $251.60 and last traded at $249.32, with a volume of 5208448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $241.30.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Roth Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. JMP Securities set a $240.00 price objective on Oracle and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Oracle from $215.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.61.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total transaction of $428,552.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 31,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,749,670.92. This represents a 8.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total value of $76,168,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,097,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,000,421.92. The trade was a 26.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 445,366 shares of company stock valued at $84,784,653. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 71.6% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 257,378 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,984,000 after acquiring an additional 107,404 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 4.8% in the first quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 10,165 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 1.5% in the first quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 711,290 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $99,445,000 after purchasing an additional 10,426 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisory LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 12,968 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,258,000 after purchasing an additional 3,299 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter worth $211,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $699.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.39, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $194.31 and a 200 day moving average of $168.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 87.34% and a net margin of 21.68%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.08%.

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.