Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading 9.9% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shares traded up 9.9% during mid-day trading on Monday after DA Davidson upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. DA Davidson now has a $180.00 price target on the stock. Oracle traded as high as $159.75 and last traded at $156.94. 49,539,251 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 79% from the average session volume of 27,731,998 shares. The stock had previously closed at $142.82.

ORCL has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Oracle from $320.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Mizuho set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.43.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total value of $2,953,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 234,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,087,420.53. The trade was a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.52, for a total value of $1,925,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,728,655.60. This represents a 6.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,223 shares of company stock worth $12,136,764. Company insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

More Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: D.A. Davidson’s upgrade to Buy (with a $180 target) and follow‑on analyst coverage helped spark the recent rally and renewed buying interest; some ETFs with heavy ORCL exposure are positioned to capture the move. Oracle Stock Soars As Analyst Says It’s Time To Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Oracle announced new role‑based AI agents and supply‑chain/manufacturing enhancements embedded in Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications at Oracle AI World — product traction that supports cloud/AI revenue growth and upsell to enterprise customers. Oracle AI Agents Help Supply Chain Leaders Boost Efficiency and Strengthen Resiliency
• Positive Sentiment: Renewed optimism around OpenAI and a possible “revamp” of its plans is lifting AI‑linked names (including Oracle as an AI infrastructure supplier), which is helping sentiment and liquidity into ORCL shares. AI Giant OpenAI Is Getting a Lift Lately. So Are Stocks Linked to It.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest rose ~19.5% in January (to ~34.8M shares), but only ~2% of float is short and the days‑to‑cover is low (~1.2 days) — notable for positioning but not an acute squeeze risk today.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector commentary from strategists suggests recent software weakness created a buying opportunity for higher‑quality names — a market‑level tailwind if sentiment broadens. AI disruption fears create buying chance in US software stocks, strategists say
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities‑fraud class actions and investor notices have been filed or solicited (Kessler Topaz, Bernstein Liebhard, Robbins Geller, Rosen, etc.) covering June–Dec 2025 — ongoing litigation risk that can increase legal costs, management distraction, and uncertainty. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check Files Securities Class Action
• Negative Sentiment: Public criticism of Oracle’s capital deployment and leverage (notably from media/TV commentators) and analyst notes flagging capital‑raise impact keep balance‑sheet concerns in focus; monitor debt metrics and FCF guidance closely. Jim Cramer on Oracle: “I Don’t Like What They’re Doing to Their Balance Sheet”
• Negative Sentiment: Short sellers and sector rotation have pressured software names recently; articles note traders profited from the selloff — a reminder downside can re‑assert if AI‑funding or capital‑markets sentiment shifts. Short Sellers Are Making Bank on Oracle Stock

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Oracle by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 5,093,200 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,113,526,000 after buying an additional 360,000 shares in the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Oracle by 626.1% in the third quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 11,537 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,245,000 after acquiring an additional 9,948 shares during the period. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 9.2% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 3,817 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $835,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 4.8% during the second quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,937 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $7,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 45.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,723 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $814,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Trading Up 2.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $459.07 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $187.05 and a 200 day moving average of $232.85.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. 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.