Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. 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 research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $173.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.48.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $177.74 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $492.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.81, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.67. Oracle has a one year low of $99.26 and a one year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. Research analysts predict that Oracle will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after buying an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after buying an additional 885,041 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after buying an additional 1,917,416 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,898,029 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,049,824,000 after buying an additional 310,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,489,345,000 after buying an additional 54,868 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.