Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Raises Dividend to $0.50 Per Share

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 10th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the enterprise software provider on Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is a 25.0% increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Oracle has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years. Oracle has a dividend payout ratio of 19.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Oracle to earn $5.61 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 28.5%.

Oracle Stock Down 4.1 %

ORCL opened at $148.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $416.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. Oracle has a one year low of $111.18 and a one year high of $198.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.58. 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 (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup raised shares of Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total transaction of $389,448,893.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. The trade was a 65.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of 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% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,494 shares during the period. Oracle accounts for about 0.7% of Brighton Jones LLC’s investment portfolio, 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. 42.44% of the stock is 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.