Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Down 1.5% – What’s Next?

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) traded down 1.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $160.01 and last traded at $161.56. 3,151,666 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 14,882,369 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $475.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.06. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $172.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $163.08.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction 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 represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 16,023.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $351,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,052,275 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Oracle by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 279.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,210,745 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $201,759,000 after acquiring an additional 891,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after acquiring an additional 885,041 shares in 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.