Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Now Covered by Analysts at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on ORCL. Erste Group Bank restated a hold rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, December 22nd. William Blair upgraded Oracle from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. StockNews.com cut Oracle from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. HSBC boosted their price target on Oracle from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on Oracle in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an overweight rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $130.76.

Oracle Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $115.93 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $119.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.80. Oracle has a twelve month low of $93.29 and a twelve month high of $132.77. The company has a market capitalization of $318.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.59, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.34.

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

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 790,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $99,966,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available through this link. 42.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the third quarter worth $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the first quarter worth $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 298.4% in the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 243 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new position in Oracle during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Tidemark LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.