Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 2.3% – Still a Buy?

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) shot up 2.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $163.09 and last traded at $161.93. 8,315,234 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 14,816,256 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on ORCL shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Up 3.7 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $173.85 and a 200-day moving average of $162.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $459.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 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 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $207,565,931.52. This trade represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Oracle during the second quarter worth $1,516,000. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 91.0% in the second quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,869 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 6,130 shares during the period. Silver Lake Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the second quarter valued at $540,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 20.0% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 169,108 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $23,878,000 after purchasing an additional 28,138 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Oracle by 7.0% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.