Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Up 1.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s share price traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Oppenheimer upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. Oppenheimer now has a $185.00 price target on the stock. Oracle traded as high as $153.28 and last traded at $147.6990. 26,274,261 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 2% from the average session volume of 26,770,594 shares. The stock had previously closed at $146.14.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ORCL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Oracle from $320.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.61, for a total value of $437,064.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,596 shares in the company, valued at $5,032,429.56. The trade was a 7.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 24th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 72,223 shares of company stock valued at $13,689,064. 40.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer upgraded ORCL to Outperform/Buy and set a $185 price target, citing an attractive valuation after the recent pullback and viewing easing OpenAI risks plus continued cloud spending as long‑term catalysts. Why Oracle Stock Is Up Around 3% Today
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo also published a buy rating on ORCL, adding to the buy-side momentum and reinforcing the narrative that the recent selloff creates an entry point for growth exposure to Oracle’s cloud/AI investments. Oracle (ORCL) Receives a Buy from Wells Fargo
• Neutral Sentiment: Other Wall Street notes and price‑target updates (multiple outlets) have pushed pre‑market buying, framing today’s move as an analyst-driven rebound rather than company-specific news. These items support momentum but don’t resolve execution questions. Analyst sets Oracle stock price target
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple class‑action securities lawsuits have been filed alleging misleading disclosures around Oracle’s AI infrastructure spending and related risks — a headline risk that can increase legal costs, management distraction, and investor uncertainty. Oracle Corporation Sued for Securities Law Violations – Investors Should Contact Levi & Korsinsky for More Information – ORCL
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage (Forbes, others) highlight slowing cloud revenue growth and rising AI capex as substantive execution risks; these factors explain the YTD weakness and keep valuation pressure despite upgrades. Is Oracle Stock Losing Its AI Edge?

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HFM Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Oracle by 290.9% during the fourth quarter. HFM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $424.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.76, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.98.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $16.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.47 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s dividend 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.