Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Upgraded at Melius

Melius upgraded shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $210.00 target price on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

ORCL has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Oracle from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Oracle from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $163.88.

Oracle Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE:ORCL opened at $164.49 on Monday. Oracle has a fifty-two week low of $99.26 and a fifty-two week 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 stock has a market capitalization of $453.31 billion, a PE ratio of 44.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $141.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.19.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $7,076,685. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Edward Screven sold 37,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.19, for a total transaction of $5,218,011.99. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $368,246,045.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,610,402 shares of company stock worth $230,556,257 in the last ninety days. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Contour Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $231,203,000 after buying an additional 643,490 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 29,301 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after purchasing an additional 3,291 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 16,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,792,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 5,236 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the period. Finally, Goelzer Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Oracle by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.