Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $169.52.

Several research firms have weighed in on ORCL. JMP Securities raised their price target on Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 42.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Oracle during the second quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Oracle in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $183.71 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $171.30 and a 200 day moving average of $146.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. The stock has a market cap of $509.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.02. Oracle has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $191.77.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.24%.

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.