Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading 0.1% Higher – What’s Next?

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $191.36 and last traded at $189.46. Approximately 1,395,517 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 8,253,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.25.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. StockNews.com raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Melius upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.52.

Oracle Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $525.45 billion, a PE ratio of 48.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders 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 0.84%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business’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 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,319,604,000 after buying an additional 82,551 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 1.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,049,824,000 after acquiring an additional 310,709 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Oracle by 2.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,869,816,000 after acquiring an additional 296,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Oracle by 148.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,616,855,000 after acquiring an additional 7,699,141 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.