Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price Down 5.4% – Time to Sell?

by · The Markets Daily

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCLGet Free Report)’s share price dropped 5.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $177.07 and last traded at $178.46. Approximately 49,239,034 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 187% from the average daily volume of 17,160,574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.65.

Key Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Oracle from $355.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $202.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective 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. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $208.00 to $331.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.92.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on ORCL

Oracle Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $552.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $234.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $241.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael D. Sicilia sold 33,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.16, for a total value of $10,869,660.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 132,656 shares in the company, valued at $42,603,800.96. This represents a 20.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stuart Levey sold 19,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $5,927,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,528,700. The trade was a 51.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 155,190 shares of company stock valued at $45,279,001. 40.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kampmann Melissa S. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 0.3% in the third quarter. Kampmann Melissa S. now owns 11,910 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,350,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Oracle by 0.7% during the third quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,319 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,551,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. lifted its stake in Oracle by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. now owns 5,281 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 1,127 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avion Wealth grew its position in Oracle by 16.6% during the third quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 260 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

About Oracle

(Get Free Report)

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.

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