Investors Buy Large Volume of Oracle Call Options (NYSE:ORCL)

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 161,141 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 107% compared to the typical volume of 77,990 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $214.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.73.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 16,023.4% during 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 position in shares of Oracle by 11.6% during the 3rd 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 boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd 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 period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5,853.1% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $219,224,000 after buying an additional 1,526,500 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Trading Up 6.7 %

Shares of ORCL opened at $184.18 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. Oracle has a 12-month low of $106.51 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $174.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $515.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

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.