Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 2.7% - What's Next?

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 2.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $178.84 and last traded at $178.86. 2,795,956 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 12,138,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.16.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ORCL. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut shares of Oracle from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Oracle Stock Down 4.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $469.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.05. The business's fifty day moving average price is $169.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.74. 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 (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last announced its 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). The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,416,362 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $411,748,000 after acquiring an additional 121,874 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its position in Oracle by 383.4% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 7,155 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,192,000 after buying an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,593 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $27,428,000 after buying an additional 32,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,800,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.