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

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 9th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th.

Oracle has increased its dividend by an average of 16.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Oracle has a dividend payout ratio of 22.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Oracle to earn $5.65 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 28.3%.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $161.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $452.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.60, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average is $178.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.59. Oracle has a 12-month low of $102.13 and a 12-month high of $198.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. Research analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut Oracle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.48.

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.