Westpark Capital Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) had its price target increased by Westpark Capital from $195.00 to $246.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the enterprise software provider's stock.

ORCL has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $160.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. CIBC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Monday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Oracle from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $192.30.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL stock traded up $23.29 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $199.67. The company had a trading volume of 54,558,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,567,888. Oracle has a 12 month low of $118.86 and a 12 month high of $202.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm's fifty day moving average is $149.60 and its 200 day moving average is $160.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $558.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.82, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business's revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Oracle's payout ratio is 46.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,538,339.30. The trade was a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,866 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total value of $428,552.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,749,670.92. The trade was a 8.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,366 shares of company stock worth $4,015,723 over the last quarter. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,216,314,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $930,095,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the first quarter worth $732,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Oracle by 15,012.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,755,096 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $664,810,000 after acquiring an additional 4,723,631 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,925,413 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $22,498,982,000 after acquiring an additional 3,513,464 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.