Brokerages Set Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Price Target at $179.71

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $179.71.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 5.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Oracle by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders raised its position in Oracle by 383.4% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Oracle Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $149.48 on Friday. Oracle has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.01. The stock has a market cap of $418.10 billion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 46.95%.

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.