Sanford C. Bernstein Boosts Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Price Target to $202.00

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its target price increased by Sanford C. Bernstein from $201.00 to $202.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on ORCL. StockNews.com raised shares of Oracle from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. JMP Securities raised Oracle from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $175.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $167.42.

Oracle Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $167.73 on Monday. Oracle has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $173.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $464.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $60,575,844.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,573,181 shares of company stock worth $225,338,245 in the last 90 days. 42.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Werlinich Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Werlinich Asset Management LLC now owns 2,325 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 2,869 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 3,372 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 12,911 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Financial Inc raised its stake in Oracle by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 6,600 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $932,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.