Guggenheim Reaffirms Buy Rating for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Guggenheim in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $220.00 price target on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price objective points to a potential upside of 58.70% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Oracle from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho increased their target price on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.65.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE:ORCL traded down $7.24 on Thursday, reaching $138.62. 3,086,289 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,016,576. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.85. The firm has a market cap of $387.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle has a 52 week low of $112.78 and a 52 week high of $198.31. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The sale 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

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Oracle by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $26,231,127,000 after buying an additional 2,296,069 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,332,803,000 after purchasing an additional 156,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Oracle by 1.8% during the fourth 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. grew its holdings in Oracle by 9.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. 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.