Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Price Target Raised to $155.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its target price upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $135.00 to $155.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Oracle from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Argus raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $157.52.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $155.82 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.13. Oracle has a 52-week low of $99.26 and a 52-week high of $160.52. The company has a market cap of $429.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.00, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.25.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 223.01%. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $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. In other news, insider Edward Screven sold 235,918 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.30, for a total value of $34,042,967.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,042,045.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.89, for a total transaction of $2,068,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares in the company, valued at $8,010,030.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,862,500 shares of company stock worth $266,776,624. Corporate insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Oracle by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 151,213,890 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $18,993,977,000 after acquiring an additional 1,514,569 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 82,551 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 14,599,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,539,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,342 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Oracle by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,242,340 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,869,816,000 after buying an additional 296,866 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Oracle by 148.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,872,300 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,616,855,000 after buying an additional 7,699,141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.