Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on ORCL. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Oracle from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.52.

Oracle Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE ORCL opened at $192.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $534.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week high of $196.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced 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 company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after purchasing an additional 310,709 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,489,345,000 after buying an additional 54,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Oracle by 2.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,869,816,000 after buying an additional 296,866 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.