Sanford C. Bernstein Increases Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Price Target to $202.00

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein from $201.00 to $202.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 20.87% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ORCL. Melius raised shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JMP Securities raised shares of Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.42.

Oracle Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:ORCL opened at $167.12 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $146.05 and a 200-day moving average of $134.40. The company has a market cap of $463.08 billion, a PE ratio of 45.05, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.01. Oracle has a one year low of $99.26 and a one year high of $173.99.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The company had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total value of $60,575,844.51. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,626,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,685. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 426,861 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.91, for a total transaction of $60,575,844.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,626,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $372,764,079.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,573,181 shares of company stock valued at $225,338,245 in the last quarter. Insiders own 42.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Contour Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,950 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $231,203,000 after purchasing an additional 643,490 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 29,301 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after purchasing an additional 3,291 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 24,800 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,492 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,315 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,151,000 after purchasing an additional 7,982 shares during the last quarter. 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.