Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Announces $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 12th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the enterprise software provider on Thursday, July 24th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th.

Oracle has a payout ratio of 24.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Oracle to earn $5.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.7%.

Oracle Stock Up 7.8%

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $215.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Oracle has a 1 year low of $118.86 and a 1 year high of $216.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $602.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.70, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $152.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $160.62.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total transaction of $291,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,049,400.30. This trade represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of Oracle 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,097,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,000,421.92. The trade was a 26.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 427,366 shares of company stock valued at $80,183,723. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Oracle stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 189.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 153,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,494 shares during the period. Oracle comprises 0.7% of Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $25,593,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ORCL. Morgan Stanley reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Monday. UBS Group increased their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Oracle from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $200.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Oracle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $194.32.

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.