Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) to Issue $0.40 Quarterly Dividend

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 9th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the enterprise software provider on Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%.

Oracle has raised its dividend payment by an average of 16.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Oracle has a dividend payout ratio of 22.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Oracle to earn $5.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.8%.

Oracle Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:ORCL traded down $1.15 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $190.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,471,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,278,780. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $179.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $528.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.03. Oracle has a 12 month low of $99.26 and a 12 month high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. The business had revenue of $13.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Oracle will post 5.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $1,042,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,685. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 42.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ORCL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho upped their target price on Oracle from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.52.

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.