Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Up 1.3% – Here’s Why

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) shot up 1.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $177.66 and last traded at $177.04. 1,238,520 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 8,456,579 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ORCL. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Oracle from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.67.

Oracle Stock Down 0.5 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.49. The company has a market cap of $484.16 billion, a PE ratio of 45.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. Oracle’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 148.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after buying an additional 7,699,141 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle by 131.2% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,201 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $552,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,450 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Oracle by 97.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,242,647 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $532,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093,893 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its position in Oracle by 5,853.1% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Oracle by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.