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

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its price objective boosted by analysts at KeyCorp from $200.00 to $225.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. KeyCorp’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 4.39% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on ORCL. Stephens initiated coverage on Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $167.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Oracle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Oracle from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $194.32.

Oracle Stock Up 7.8%

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $215.54 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $602.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $152.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $160.62. Oracle has a 52-week low of $118.86 and a 52-week high of $216.60.

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

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total value of $2,646,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,785,531.60. This trade represents a 23.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,097,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. This represents a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 427,366 shares of company stock worth $80,183,723 in the last quarter. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Optima Capital LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 17.8% in the first quarter. Optima Capital LLC now owns 5,072 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 501.9% in the first quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 30,198 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $4,222,000 after purchasing an additional 25,181 shares during the last quarter. Cim LLC increased its holdings in Oracle by 4.8% in the first quarter. Cim LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 19.8% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 720 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the first quarter worth about $280,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.