Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ORCL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Oracle from $363.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Redburn Partners set a $175.00 price objective on Oracle in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $322.73.

Oracle Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE:ORCL opened at $218.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $621.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.66. Oracle has a twelve month low of $118.86 and a twelve month high of $345.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $253.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.98.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 72.93% and a net margin of 21.08%.The company had revenue of $14.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Oracle has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.270-1.310 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 46.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,222 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.91, for a total transaction of $641,958.02. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 29,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,443,394.75. This represents a 7.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 40,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.64, for a total transaction of $11,065,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 154,030 shares in the company, valued at $42,610,859.20. This represents a 20.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 204,254 shares of company stock valued at $60,227,807. 40.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth $4,275,378,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 2,062.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 9,227,252 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,595,072,000 after buying an additional 8,800,546 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle in the first quarter worth about $732,692,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 168,960,500 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $47,518,451,000 after acquiring an additional 4,681,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 333.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,238,006 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,473,137,000 after acquiring an additional 4,030,382 shares during 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.