Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Down 4% – What’s Next?

Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) traded down 4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $182.22 and last traded at $182.70. 8,368,797 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 8,262,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Oracle from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.52.

Oracle Stock Down 4.0 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $176.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $150.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $506.27 billion, a PE ratio of 47.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.02.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The firm had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors 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.