Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.50 Per Share

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

Oracle has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Oracle has a payout ratio of 19.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $148.87 on Tuesday. Oracle has a 12 month low of $111.18 and a 12 month high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $416.38 billion, a PE ratio of 36.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $167.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.58.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 133.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Oracle from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Eleven equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 345,174 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.56, for a total transaction of $64,050,487.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at $207,565,931.52. The trade was a 23.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Oracle stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 189.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 100,494 shares during the period. Oracle comprises about 0.7% of Brighton Jones LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $25,593,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.