Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) received a $55.00 target price from investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research note issued on Monday. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 16.13% from the company’s current price.
A number of other analysts have also commented on ORCL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Sunday, August 27th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 28th. ValuEngine upgraded Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 1st. Vetr lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $46.58 price objective for the company. in a research report on Sunday, September 3rd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group initiated coverage on Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.26.
Shares of Oracle (NYSE ORCL) traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $47.36. 11,132,353 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,621,706. The firm has a market capitalization of $195,720.38, a PE ratio of 20.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 5.07, a quick ratio of 5.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Oracle has a 1 year low of $38.30 and a 1 year high of $53.14.
Oracle declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 14th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the enterprise software provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
In related news, Director Hector Garcia-Molina sold 3,750 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.70, for a total value of $182,625.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dorian Daley sold 23,297 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total value of $1,141,553.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 54,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,659,426. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 278,750 shares of company stock worth $13,459,738 in the last quarter. 29.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 6,353.4% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 18,640,774 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $831,551,000 after acquiring an additional 18,351,920 shares during the period. BT Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 2nd quarter worth $459,738,000. Harris Associates L P lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 48,989,216 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,456,319,000 after buying an additional 7,427,501 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,082,375 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,658,750,000 after buying an additional 6,577,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 206,441,876 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $10,350,996,000 after buying an additional 5,270,359 shares during the last quarter. 57.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Oracle Company Profile
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.
