Brokerages Set Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Target Price at $174.42

Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $174.42.

ORCL has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total value of $648,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $7,538,339.30. This trade represents a 7.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total value of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,049,400.30. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,366 shares of company stock worth $4,015,723 in the last three months. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 284.9% in the 1st quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL stock opened at $165.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $461.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.26. Oracle has a 1 year low of $114.55 and a 1 year high of $198.31.

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

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.