Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler restated their overweight rating on shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $150.00 target price on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

ORCL has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Oracle from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Oracle from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $145.83.

Oracle Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $144.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25. Oracle has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $145.79. The stock has a market cap of $398.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.90.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $14.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.57 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 223.01% and a net margin of 19.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at $379,042,045.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Michael J. Boskin sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.74, for a total transaction of $5,298,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 87,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,299,071.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at $379,042,045.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 812,500 shares of company stock worth $113,578,574. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after acquiring an additional 1,514,569 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,319,604,000 after purchasing an additional 82,551 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in Oracle by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 14,599,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,539,268,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191,342 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 148.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,616,855,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,339,385 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,300,941,000 after acquiring an additional 697,961 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.