Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Stephens

Stock analysts at Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) in a report issued on Wednesday. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 price target on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Stephens’ price objective points to a potential upside of 11.72% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on ORCL. UBS Group reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.20.

Oracle Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $149.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Oracle has a 1 year low of $112.78 and a 1 year high of $198.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $165.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.01. The stock has a market cap of $418.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $26,231,127,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,069 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $6,332,803,000 after purchasing an additional 156,269 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,954,961,000 after purchasing an additional 619,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,366,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,722,037 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.