Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Down 0.5% – What’s Next?

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) fell 0.5% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $168.61 and last traded at $171.61. 1,818,445 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 11,575,983 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ORCL. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Oracle to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Guggenheim upped their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $460.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 201.7% in 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 last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders increased its holdings in shares of 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 raised its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,800,000. 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.