Equities researchers at Nomura began coverage on shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) in a report released on Tuesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $64.00 price target on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Nomura’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 25.20% from the company’s current price.
ORCL has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada set a $51.00 price target on Oracle and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $55.00 price target on Oracle and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Vetr cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.74 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. Drexel Hamilton restated a “buy” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity cut their price target on Oracle from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.52.
Oracle (ORCL) traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $51.12. The company had a trading volume of 13,953,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,323,836. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 5.07 and a quick ratio of 5.04. Oracle has a 12-month low of $39.43 and a 12-month high of $53.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $213,220.00, a PE ratio of 21.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.05.
Oracle announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 14th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the enterprise software provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.
In related news, EVP Dorian Daley sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.59, for a total transaction of $4,759,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 136,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,517,640.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Thomas Kurian sold 1,700,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.29, for a total value of $85,493,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,522,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,590,815.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,811,250 shares of company stock valued at $90,803,063 over the last three months. 29.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Narwhal Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 14,965 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Nepsis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,617,000. Pennsylvania Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 66.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pennsylvania Trust Co now owns 186,110 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $9,336,000 after acquiring an additional 73,990 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 75,707 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,796,000 after acquiring an additional 3,176 shares during the period. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 4,119,335 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $159,088,000 after acquiring an additional 561,880 shares during the period. 57.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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About Oracle
Oracle Corporation (Oracle) provides products and services that address all aspects of corporate information technology (IT) environments, including application, platform and infrastructure. The Company’s businesses include cloud and on-premise software, hardware and services. Its cloud and on-premise software business consists of three segments, including cloud software and on-premise software, which includes Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings, cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and software license updates and product support.
