Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 4.9% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shot up 4.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $143.20 and last traded at $143.11. 29,795,615 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 11% from the average session volume of 26,884,418 shares. The stock had previously closed at $136.48.

Oracle News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Record bond sale eases financing risk — Oracle’s large bond issuance has calmed credit markets and could make it easier for tech peers to raise money for AI data centers, reducing near-term liquidity concerns. Why Oracle’s Record Bond Sale Clears the Way for More AI Debt
• Positive Sentiment: BofA says a key risk was defused — Bank of America argued Oracle addressed a major 2026 risk, which supports the case that the company can execute its AI infrastructure plans if markets accept the financing strategy. Oracle defused ‘the key risk going into 2026,’ BofA argues, but the market isn’t buying it
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst target changes are mixed — Citizens Jmp cut its target to $285 but kept an outperform view; other shops have trimmed targets while many still rate the stock a buy, leaving investor guidance mixed. Oracle Price Target Lowered to $285.00 at Citizens Jmp
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional financing instruments announced — Oracle issued Series D mandatory convertible preferred stock and is pursuing equity offerings to fund AI expansion; financing reduces short-term liquidity risk but raises dilution questions. Oracle Issues Series D Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Widespread class-action notices — Multiple law firms have filed or invited investors to join securities-fraud class actions tied to Oracle’s AI spending disclosures and related filings for the June–Dec 2025 period, increasing legal and reputational risk. Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter LLP Encourages Oracle Shareholders To Inquire About Securities Fraud Class Action
• Negative Sentiment: Capital-raise/dilution fears persist — Social and analyst commentary on a $45–50B AI capital plan and separate equity offerings ($20B common sale) have driven investor concern over dilution and higher leverage. Oracle Stock Opinions on $45-50 Billion AI Capital Raise
• Negative Sentiment: AI-driven tech sell-off and heavy put activity — A broader AI sell-off has hit big tech (FactSet/CNBC coverage), and unusually large purchases of puts on ORCL suggest traders were positioned for further downside. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Local regulatory pushback on data center plan — Michigan’s attorney general urged reconsideration of approval to power Oracle/OpenAI data centers, adding permit/regulatory risk to the expansion. Michigan AG Urges Revisit on Oracle Data Center Power Plan

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ORCL shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, October 17th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Oracle from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $299.17.

Oracle Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $188.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $234.11. The company has a market capitalization of $411.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.64.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 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 last year, the business posted $1.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, EVP Douglas A. Kehring sold 35,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.89, for a total value of $6,821,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 33,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,555,709.82. The trade was a 50.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,032,429.56. This trade represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 62,223 shares of company stock worth $12,136,764 in the last three months. 40.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kampmann Melissa S. raised its holdings in Oracle by 0.3% during the third quarter. Kampmann Melissa S. now owns 11,910 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,350,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Oracle by 0.7% in the third quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 5,319 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,551,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Oracle by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. now owns 5,281 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 1,127 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 260 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% 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.