Oracle Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) announced an update to its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter on Monday. The company is projecting an earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $1.61 to $1.65. This estimate falls short of analysts' average expectation, which is set at $1.79. Additionally, Oracle provided revenue guidance of between $15.43 billion and $15.72 billion, also lower than the consensus estimate of $15.91 billion.

Oracle Stock Performance

During trading on Monday, Oracle’s stock price dropped by $6.29, bringing the price to $148.87. The day saw over 20 million shares traded, significantly more than the average volume of about 11.8 million shares. Oracle has a market cap of approximately $416.38 billion, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.40 and a growth ratio of 3.46. Over the past year, the stock has traded as low as $111.18 and as high as $198.31. It has a 50-day moving average of $167.27 and a 200-day moving average of $169.58. Current ratios for the firm stand at 0.81, indicating its liquidity, while the quick ratio remains the same, and it has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65.

Recent Earnings Report

Oracle recently published its most recent earnings report on December 9th. The company reported an EPS of $1.47 for the quarter, which underperformed against the analysts' forecast of $1.48 by $0.01. Revenue for the quarter was reported at $14.06 billion, slightly below the consensus estimate of $14.12 billion. Oracle experienced a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. Year-over-year, the revenue represented an increase of 8.6%, compared to last year’s performance where the company earned $1.34 per share.

Dividend Announcement

The company also announced its upcoming quarterly dividend, which is scheduled to be paid on April 23rd. Shareholders who are on record by April 10th will receive a dividend of $0.50 per share. This marks an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.40, resulting in an annualized rate of $2.00 and a yield of 1.34%. Currently, Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is at 39.12%.

Analyst Ratings and Projections

Insider Trading Activities

In another noteworthy update, Oracle's CEO, Safra Catz, sold 2,101,154 shares on January 22nd, fetching an average price of $185.35. This transaction totaled nearly $389.5 million. Post-sale, she retains ownership of approximately 1,118,592 shares, valued around $207.3 million. This transaction indicates a substantial decrease of 65.26% in her stock ownership. Currently, insiders own about 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investments

An institutional investor, Brighton Jones LLC, has recently increased its stake in Oracle, lifting its holdings by 189.3% over the fourth quarter. According to their latest SEC filing, they now own 153,580 shares after acquiring an additional 100,494 shares during this period. This makes Oracle approximately 0.7% of Brighton Jones LLC's investment portfolio, ranking it as their 20th largest position. Institutional investors overall hold about 42.44% of Oracle’s shares.

About Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation specializes in providing products and services designed to support enterprise information technology setups on a global scale. Their offerings include cloud software applications under the Oracle Fusion brand, which encompasses enterprise resource planning, performance management, supply chain management, human capital management, and various healthcare applications.

Oracle, Earnings, Stocks