Analysts Set Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Price Target at $130.76

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $130.76.

ORCL has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Oracle from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. William Blair upgraded shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $126.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Argus raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,546,631.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at $1,210,181,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 9,299.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,170,999 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $865,472,000 after acquiring an additional 8,084,067 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 5.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 147,273,413 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $15,599,200,000 after acquiring an additional 7,883,515 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 382.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,563,366 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $481,820,000 after acquiring an additional 3,617,413 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,384,162 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,938,242,000 after acquiring an additional 3,323,334 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $114.86 on Tuesday. Oracle has a 1 year low of $93.29 and a 1 year high of $132.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.06. The company has a market capitalization of $315.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.01.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Oracle had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 336.11%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Oracle will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.