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

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 9th,Wall Street Journal 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 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th.

Oracle has increased its dividend payment by an average of 16.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Oracle has a payout ratio of 22.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Oracle to earn $5.65 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 28.3%.

Oracle Price Performance

ORCL stock opened at $165.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50-day moving average is $178.48 and its 200-day moving average is $160.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $463.12 billion, a PE ratio of 40.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.06. Oracle has a 1 year low of $102.13 and a 1 year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.48.

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.