Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Upgraded at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on ORCL. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.63.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $175.28 on Tuesday. Oracle has a 52 week low of $99.26 and a 52 week high of $198.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $485.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued 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 return on equity of 171.38% and a net margin of 20.40%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. Oracle’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Oracle will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 41.24%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 16,023.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,065,083 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $351,890,000 after buying an additional 2,052,275 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in 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 during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its holdings in Oracle by 5,853.1% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,552,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $219,224,000 after buying an additional 1,526,500 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently 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.