Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading 2.7% Higher – Should You Buy?

Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) rose 2.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $178.84 and last traded at $178.86. Approximately 2,795,956 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 12,138,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Down 3.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $492.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $169.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.67.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 89.7% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.