UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its price target increased by research analysts at UBS Group from $280.00 to $360.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 17.02% from the stock’s previous close.

ORCL has been the topic of several other research reports. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $315.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $271.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. CIBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.84.

Oracle Stock Down 6.3%

Oracle stock opened at $307.64 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $243.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.52. Oracle has a fifty-two week low of $118.86 and a fifty-two week high of $345.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $864.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.21, a PEG ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 21.08% and a return on equity of 72.93%. The business had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 10,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.99, for a total value of $2,329,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 40,807 shares in the company, valued at $9,507,622.93. This trade represents a 19.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 3,303 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.32, for a total transaction of $770,655.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 31,447 shares in the company, valued at $7,337,214.04. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 44,183 shares of company stock valued at $10,353,198 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Snider Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.3% in the second quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 3,204 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 0.9% during the second quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,070,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 1.9% during the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,211 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. increased its holdings in Oracle by 7.2% during the second quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 643 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Capital Management Investments LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 5.7% during the second quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 798 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.