Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 1.5% – Time to Buy?

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)’s share price rose 1.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $163.16 and last traded at $161.97. Approximately 3,694,518 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 7,868,612 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.54.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $176.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $450.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 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 posted 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 business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $351,890,000 after buying an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its holdings in Oracle by 5,853.1% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $219,224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,500 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Oracle by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.