Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price Down 3.4% on Analyst Downgrade

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCLGet Free Report) was down 3.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Scotiabank lowered their price target on the stock from $260.00 to $220.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Oracle traded as low as $151.90 and last traded at $154.65. Approximately 42,937,506 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 69% from the average daily volume of 25,463,674 shares. The stock had previously closed at $160.06.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ORCL. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $365.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Oracle from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.89.

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Insider Activity at Oracle

In other Oracle news, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total value of $2,953,350.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 234,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,087,420.53. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Douglas A. Kehring sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.89, for a total value of $6,821,150.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 33,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,555,709.82. This represents a 50.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 62,223 shares of company stock worth $12,136,764. Company insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Key Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 189.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 153,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $25,593,000 after buying an additional 100,494 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,418 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $903,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,348 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $161,000. Finally, Accel Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth about $285,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Down 3.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $236.79. The firm has a market cap of $444.33 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCLGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.62. Oracle had a return on equity of 70.60% and a net margin of 25.28%.The company had revenue of $16.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 EPS. Oracle’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.59%.

Oracle Company Profile

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Oracle Corporation is a multinational technology company that develops and sells database software, cloud engineered systems, enterprise software applications and related services. The company is widely known for its flagship Oracle Database and a portfolio of enterprise-grade software products that support data management, application development, analytics and middleware. Over recent years Oracle has expanded its focus to include cloud infrastructure and cloud applications, positioning itself as a provider of both platform and software-as-a-service solutions for large organizations.

Oracle’s product and service offerings include Oracle Database and the Autonomous Database, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management (HCM) and supply chain management (SCM) cloud applications (often grouped under Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications), middleware such as WebLogic, and developer technologies including Java and MySQL.

Further Reading

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