Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Earns “Buy” Rating from Guggenheim

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $220.00 price objective on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 71.65% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ORCL. StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Westpark Capital began coverage on Oracle in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.65.

Oracle Trading Down 6.6 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $128.17 on Thursday. Oracle has a 1-year low of $112.78 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,049,400.30. This represents a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,448,328 shares of company stock worth $453,791,001. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders increased its holdings in Oracle by 383.4% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at $1,800,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.