Madison Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Madison Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,356 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 18,341 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $48,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Darwin Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 130.0% in the third quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in Oracle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Corundum Trust Company INC bought a new position in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new stake in Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Oracle from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Mizuho set a $400.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Monday, December 15th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Melius Research set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Monday. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.43.

Oracle Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:ORCL opened at $159.78 on Wednesday. Oracle Corporation has a one year low of $118.86 and a one year high of $345.72. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $187.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $232.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $459.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $16.06 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.59%.

Key Headlines Impacting Oracle

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Douglas A. Kehring sold 35,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were 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 approximately $6,555,709.82. The trade was a 50.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the company’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 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 62,223 shares of company stock worth $12,136,764 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

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.