Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Price Target Raised to $202.00 at Sanford C. Bernstein

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its price objective lifted by Sanford C. Bernstein from $201.00 to $202.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

ORCL has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Oracle from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $167.42.

Oracle Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $170.39 on Monday. Oracle has a 1 year low of $99.26 and a 1 year high of $173.99. The firm has a market cap of $472.15 billion, a PE ratio of 45.93, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.11.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.23 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,010,030.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,573,181 shares of company stock valued at $225,338,245 in the last three months. 42.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,569 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Oracle by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,466,713 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,319,604,000 after acquiring an additional 82,551 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Oracle by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,869,816,000 after acquiring an additional 296,866 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,616,855,000 after acquiring an additional 7,699,141 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,339,385 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,300,941,000 after acquiring an additional 697,961 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.