JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Price Target to $135.00

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its target price trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ORCL. StockNews.com cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America dropped their target price on Oracle from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.71.

Oracle Stock Down 2.3 %

ORCL stock opened at $147.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $412.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.34. Oracle has a 12 month low of $112.78 and a 12 month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,331,027.20. This trade represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,231,127,000 after buying an additional 2,296,069 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Oracle by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,332,803,000 after buying an additional 156,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 1.8% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Oracle by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,366,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,722,037 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Company Profile

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.