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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Oracle from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.52.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL stock opened at $186.32 on Monday. Oracle has a twelve month low of $99.26 and a twelve month high of $186.67. 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 has a market cap of $516.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $165.58 and its 200-day moving average is $143.29.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.