Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Guggenheim raised their price target on the stock from $185.00 to $200.00. The stock had previously closed at $161.38, but opened at $173.70. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock. Oracle shares last traded at $165.61, with a volume of 8,973,707 shares trading hands.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ORCL. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total value of $2,068,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total value of $2,068,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,630,281,802.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,862,500 shares of company stock worth $266,776,624 over the last three months. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 153.3% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,947 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after acquiring an additional 7,230 shares during the period. Brio Consultants LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Brio Consultants LLC now owns 2,942 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 3,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $359,000. Finally, Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $290,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 2.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $457.32 billion, a PE ratio of 43.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $139.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.55.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

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.