JMP Securities Reaffirms Market Outperform Rating for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $205.00 price target on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $183.59 on Wednesday. Oracle has a 1-year low of $106.51 and a 1-year high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $513.50 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a 50-day moving average of $174.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $162.22.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its stake in Oracle by 383.4% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,160,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,460 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $48,813,000 after buying an additional 126,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 84.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 863,883 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $147,206,000 after buying an additional 395,613 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.