Morgan Stanley Boosts Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Price Target to $145.00

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

ORCL has been the topic of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. JMP Securities raised shares of Oracle from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim reissued a buy rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $159.68.

Oracle Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $162.00 on Tuesday. Oracle has a 1 year low of $99.26 and a 1 year high of $173.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $139.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $129.90. The firm has a market cap of $446.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total value of $2,068,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,010,030.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.69, for a total transaction of $161,651,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at $164,630,281,802.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock worth $266,776,624. 42.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Contour Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $231,203,000 after purchasing an additional 643,490 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 29,301 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 3,291 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 16,995 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 5,236 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the period. Finally, Goelzer Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 25.0% during the first quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.