Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 172,624 Shares of Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,441,969 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 172,624 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Oracle worth $686,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 164,278,874 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $35,916,290,000 after acquiring an additional 3,353,461 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Oracle by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,459,391 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $16,060,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252,723 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Oracle during the second quarter worth approximately $4,275,378,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Oracle by 0.8% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,938,457 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,357,572,000 after purchasing an additional 98,693 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Oracle by 1.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,315,180 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,473,838,000 after purchasing an additional 147,367 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho set a $400.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Stephens raised their price target on Oracle from $208.00 to $331.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Oracle from $364.00 to $339.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Friday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $300.46.

Oracle News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullish call — An analyst dubbed Oracle a “decade stock” that could more than double over time, arguing current weakness (debt and AI worries) may create a buying opportunity for long-term investors. Oracle is a “Decade Stock,” Could More Than Double, Says Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: New product launch in healthcare — Oracle unveiled the Life Sciences AI Data Platform, expanding its generative-AI offerings into pharma/clinical data (129M+ de-identified records), which could drive enterprise revenue and higher-margin services. Oracle Life Sciences AI Data Platform
• Positive Sentiment: Customer win in hospitality — IHG approved Oracle OPERA Cloud as a property-management provider across multiple regions, a commercial endorsement that supports recurring cloud bookings and cross-sell opportunities. Oracle Approved by IHG Hotels & Resorts
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder returns track record — A Forbes piece highlights Oracle’s large capital return program (~$158B returned), a structural positive for investors who value buybacks and dividends during pullbacks. How Oracle Stock Returned $158B To Shareholders
• Neutral Sentiment: Options-service commentary — Schaeffer’s Weekend Trader highlighted ORCL as a “popular cloud stock pick for 2026” and provided a specific bearish options trade to subscribers — indicates active derivatives strategies around the name. Popular Cloud Stock Pick for 2026 Option Bears
• Neutral Sentiment: Trending/market context — Coverage notes ORCL is trending amid a broader tech sell-off; some press attributes intraday moves more to sector rotation than company-specific guidance. Oracle Stock Is Trending Thursday: What’s Going On?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor lawsuits and bondholder investigations — Rosen Law (senior notes), Pomerantz, and Girard Sharp have issued notices/investigations tied to Oracle’s 2024-2025 offerings and the 2025 AI buildout deal, increasing legal risk and potential financial exposure. ROSEN, GLOBAL INVESTOR COUNSEL, Encourages Oracle Corporation Investors
• Negative Sentiment: AI-related sell-off driving sharp declines — Multiple outlets report the stock has tumbled more than 50% from its peak as investors punish OpenAI exposure, AI buildout costs and leverage concerns; this narrative is the primary immediate driver of price weakness. Oracle Stock Drops by More Than Half Amid AI Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Market analysis of the decline — Reports from The Motley Fool and Zacks attribute recent slump to broad AI sell-off and investor unease over debt/OpenAI ties, reinforcing downside momentum. Why Oracle Stock Slumped on Thursday

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In related news, 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 owned 144,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,728,655.60. This represents a 6.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.61, for a total transaction of $437,064.03. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,032,429.56. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 62,223 shares of company stock worth $12,136,764. Insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORCL opened at $164.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $473.17 billion, a PE ratio of 30.96, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28. Oracle Corporation has a 1-year low of $118.86 and a 1-year high of $345.72. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.12 and its 200-day moving average is $237.44.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is 37.59%.

About Oracle

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.