Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 9th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the enterprise software provider on Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%.

Oracle has increased its dividend payment by an average of 16.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Oracle has a payout ratio of 22.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Oracle to earn $5.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.8%.

Oracle Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $190.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $528.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.11, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Oracle has a 1-year low of $99.26 and a 1-year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Oracle from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.40.

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.