Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

Investment analysts at Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “sector outperform” rating and a $300.00 price target on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price suggests a potential upside of 22.30% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective (up from $202.00) on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Loop Capital set a $135.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.29.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $245.30 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $196.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.94. Oracle has a 1-year low of $118.86 and a 1-year high of $251.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $689.01 billion, a PE ratio of 56.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.39.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 87.34%. The firm had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle 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 value of $2,646,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.10, for a total transaction of $3,211,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 60,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,000,580.20. This represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 448,669 shares of company stock worth $85,555,309 over the last quarter. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Oracle during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.