Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price Down 7% After Analyst Downgrade

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s stock price traded down 7% during trading 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. 41,629,849 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 55% from the average session volume of 26,855,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $146.67.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Oracle in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $400.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $364.00 to $339.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $365.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.72.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, EVP Douglas A. Kehring sold 35,000 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 33,638 shares in the company, valued at $6,555,709.82. The trade was a 50.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 in the company, valued at $46,087,420.53. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 62,223 shares of company stock worth $12,136,764 in the last quarter. 40.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Oracle

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 Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. HFM Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Oracle by 290.9% during 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. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Oracle during the second quarter worth $28,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Joseph Group Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Kilter Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

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 cap of $391.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $189.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $234.83.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $16.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.