Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Down 5.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shares were down 5.1% on Wednesday after Citizens Jmp lowered their price target on the stock from $342.00 to $285.00. Citizens Jmp currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Oracle traded as low as $144.43 and last traded at $146.75. Approximately 42,006,230 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 60% from the average daily volume of 26,199,357 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.67.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on ORCL. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Oracle from $290.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. DA Davidson cut their price target on Oracle from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Oracle from $208.00 to $331.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.72.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total transaction of $2,953,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 234,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,087,420.53. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.61, for a total transaction of $437,064.03. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,032,429.56. The trade was a 7.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,223 shares of company stock valued at $12,136,764. 40.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Oracle News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle posted a recent quarterly beat (EPS above consensus and ~14% revenue growth) and still shows a large services/backlog that supports cloud growth — a fundamental positive for long-term investors.
• Positive Sentiment: Record bond sale / debt funding helped calm credit markets and could smooth financing for Oracle’s AI center plans. TipRanks: Why Oracle’s Record Bond Sale Clears the Way for More AI Debt
• Positive Sentiment: New commercial wins: multiple Canadian healthcare organizations selected Oracle Health’s Clinical AI Agent for a pilot — evidence of enterprise demand for Oracle’s AI offerings. PR Newswire: Multiple Canadian Healthcare Organizations Select Oracle Health Clinical AI Agent
• Neutral Sentiment: Equity/debt issuance activity: Oracle has multiple financing vehicles active (equity distribution agreement, Series D mandatory convertible preferred, senior notes and planned large equity sale) — this provides capital but timing/structure will determine dilution vs. benefit. TipRanks: Oracle Issues Series D Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain mixed: some firms trimmed targets (BMO, Scotiabank, others) while many continue to rate ORCL a buy — the selloff has pushed valuations lower and widened the gap in analyst targets and scenarios.
• Negative Sentiment: Big AI funding plan: Oracle’s announced $45–50 billion AI infrastructure capital plan (equity + debt + other instruments) is the primary driver of the drop — investors worry about dilution from the equity component, incremental leverage and execution/timing risk. Yahoo Finance: Oracle Is Down After Unveiling AI Infrastructure Capital Plan
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple class-action and bondholder lawsuits announced alleging securities issues tied to Oracle disclosures and its debt/offering documents — legal risk can amplify short-term selling and add unknown costs. GlobeNewswire: ORCL Class Action Alert (Robbins LLP) BusinessWire: Howard G. Smith Class Action Notice
• Negative Sentiment: Funding/project risks: reports that banks are trying to offload data-center loans and a Michigan AG request to revisit utility approval for an Oracle/OpenAI data center raise execution and permitting concerns. TipRanks: Banks Explore Selling Data Center Loans Financial Post: Michigan AG Urges Revisit on Data Center Power Plan
• Negative Sentiment: Market positioning and flows: unusually heavy put buying and elevated trading volume show traders are short/hedged and pressure can accelerate declines while sentiment shifts. (Unusual put volume reported intraday.)

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 130.0% during the 3rd quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 76.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 290.9% in the 4th quarter. HFM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Down 7.0%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $189.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $234.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $391.81 billion, a PE ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.64.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $16.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.19 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 70.60% and a net margin of 25.28%.Oracle’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

Oracle Company Profile

Oracle Corporation is a multinational technology company that develops and sells database software, cloud engineered systems, enterprise software applications and related services. The company is widely known for its flagship Oracle Database and a portfolio of enterprise-grade software products that support data management, application development, analytics and middleware. Over recent years Oracle has expanded its focus to include cloud infrastructure and cloud applications, positioning itself as a provider of both platform and software-as-a-service solutions for large organizations.

Oracle’s product and service offerings include Oracle Database and the Autonomous Database, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management (HCM) and supply chain management (SCM) cloud applications (often grouped under Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications), middleware such as WebLogic, and developer technologies including Java and MySQL.