Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $145.00 to $195.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential downside of 9.53% from the company’s current price.

ORCL has been the subject of several other reports. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Oracle from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $214.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $180.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $194.32.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $215.54 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $160.62. Oracle has a 52-week low of $118.86 and a 52-week high of $216.60. 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 stock has a market cap of $602.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.70, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.58 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total transaction of $428,552.98. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749,670.92. The trade was a 8.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.42, for a total value of $76,168,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,097,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. This trade represents a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 427,366 shares of company stock worth $80,183,723 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 15,727 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,621,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 189.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 153,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $25,593,000 after acquiring an additional 100,494 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,084,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oracle by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,418 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 550,414 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $91,395,000 after buying an additional 65,980 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.