Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Down 1.5% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) fell 1.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $160.01 and last traded at $161.56. 3,151,666 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 14,882,369 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Oracle Trading Down 0.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $455.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $173.36 and a 200-day moving average of $163.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total value of $64,050,487.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. This represents a 23.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 184 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.