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

StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

Oracle stock opened at $183.59 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $174.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $162.64. Oracle has a 1 year low of $106.51 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $513.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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 firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.