Oracle Co. (ORCL) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 9th

Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 9th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th.

Oracle has raised its dividend payment by an average of 16.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Oracle has a payout ratio of 22.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Trading Up 0.5 %

ORCL stock traded up $0.84 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $178.58. 13,176,670 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,403,240. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.68. Oracle has a 52-week low of $99.26 and a 52-week high of $198.31. The company has a market cap of $494.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $179.97 and its 200-day moving average is $155.06.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.12 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 20.40% and a return on equity of 171.38%. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Oracle from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Oracle from $157.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.48.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 6,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $1,042,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,685. This trade 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 through this hyperlink. 42.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.