Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Receives $178.65 Average PT from Analysts

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $178.65.

ORCL has been the subject of several research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America cut their price target on Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $194.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,049,400.30. The trade was a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,448,328 shares of company stock worth $453,791,001. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL opened at $133.24 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a market cap of $372.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $155.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.87. Oracle has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.95%.

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.