Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Guggenheim upped their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL opened at $179.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $502.85 billion, a PE ratio of 43.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.05. Oracle has a fifty-two week low of $106.51 and a fifty-two week high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $168.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $166.24.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. Oracle’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during 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 buying an additional 121,874 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 383.4% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after buying an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Company Profile

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.