Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Down 7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s stock price was down 7% on Thursday 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 $135.25 and last traded at $136.3710. Approximately 41,629,849 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 55% from the average daily volume of 26,855,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $146.67.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Oracle from $368.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $299.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Douglas A. Kehring sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.89, for a total transaction of $6,821,150.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 33,638 shares in the company, valued at $6,555,709.82. This trade represents a 50.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total transaction of $2,953,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 234,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,087,420.53. The trade was a 6.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,223 shares of company stock worth $12,136,764. Corporate insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

More Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Record bond sale eases financing risk — Oracle’s large bond issuance has calmed credit markets and could make it easier for tech peers to raise money for AI data centers, reducing near-term liquidity concerns. Why Oracle’s Record Bond Sale Clears the Way for More AI Debt
• Positive Sentiment: BofA says a key risk was defused — Bank of America argued Oracle addressed a major 2026 risk, which supports the case that the company can execute its AI infrastructure plans if markets accept the financing strategy. Oracle defused ‘the key risk going into 2026,’ BofA argues, but the market isn’t buying it
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst target changes are mixed — Citizens Jmp cut its target to $285 but kept an outperform view; other shops have trimmed targets while many still rate the stock a buy, leaving investor guidance mixed. Oracle Price Target Lowered to $285.00 at Citizens Jmp
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional financing instruments announced — Oracle issued Series D mandatory convertible preferred stock and is pursuing equity offerings to fund AI expansion; financing reduces short-term liquidity risk but raises dilution questions. Oracle Issues Series D Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Widespread class-action notices — Multiple law firms have filed or invited investors to join securities-fraud class actions tied to Oracle’s AI spending disclosures and related filings for the June–Dec 2025 period, increasing legal and reputational risk. Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter LLP Encourages Oracle Shareholders To Inquire About Securities Fraud Class Action
• Negative Sentiment: Capital-raise/dilution fears persist — Social and analyst commentary on a $45–50B AI capital plan and separate equity offerings ($20B common sale) have driven investor concern over dilution and higher leverage. Oracle Stock Opinions on $45-50 Billion AI Capital Raise
• Negative Sentiment: AI-driven tech sell-off and heavy put activity — A broader AI sell-off has hit big tech (FactSet/CNBC coverage), and unusually large purchases of puts on ORCL suggest traders were positioned for further downside. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Local regulatory pushback on data center plan — Michigan’s attorney general urged reconsideration of approval to power Oracle/OpenAI data centers, adding permit/regulatory risk to the expansion. Michigan AG Urges Revisit on Oracle Data Center Power Plan

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,275,378,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 2,062.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 9,227,252 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,595,072,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800,546 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Oracle by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 174,802,084 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $34,070,674,000 after purchasing an additional 5,841,584 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Oracle by 333.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,238,006 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,473,137,000 after purchasing an additional 4,030,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Oracle by 42.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,839,166 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,932,507,000 after purchasing an additional 2,619,722 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $188.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.14. The firm has a market cap of $411.17 billion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.62. Oracle had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 70.60%. The firm had revenue of $16.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s 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.