Marathon Asset Management Ltd Cuts Stock Holdings in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Marathon Asset Management Ltd cut its position in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 45.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 172,604 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after selling 142,454 shares during the period. Oracle accounts for 1.8% of Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Oracle were worth $48,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 period. 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Oracle in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,275,378,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 13,884,524 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,941,195,000 after buying an additional 59,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 12,736,855 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,749,280,000 after buying an additional 409,691 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on ORCL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Oracle from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Oracle from $246.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.72.

Oracle Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Oracle stock opened at $195.28 on Tuesday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.32. The stock has a market cap of $561.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.66. Oracle Corporation has a 1-year low of $118.86 and a 1-year high of $345.72.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $16.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.19 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 70.60% and a net margin of 25.28%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. 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 will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $2,953,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 234,077 shares in the company, valued at $46,087,420.53. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $5,032,429.56. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 146,346 shares of company stock valued at $39,082,996 in the last three months. 40.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat lists Oracle as one of “5 Stocks Set to Start Strong in January,” highlighting its position as a full‑stack AI/data‑center provider and the potential upside as data centers come online. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat argues Q4 earnings season could be bullish for S&P 500 tech names (including Oracle) as AI spending and earnings beats may lift guidance and multiples. This is a potential demand-side catalyst for ORCL. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Phillip Securities raised its 2026 capex forecast for Oracle to $50B, framing higher capex as confidence in OCI and Oracle’s full‑stack AI leadership — a bullish analyst view that supports long‑term revenue/market‑share upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buys remain evident (Price T Rowe, UBS AM, Jennison, FMR, Norges Bank among recent adders), signaling conviction from major funds even after the stock pullback. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage on public‑sector AI: Oracle executives say governments are shifting toward agentic AI and data organization — a steady demand channel for OCI but longer‑tailed execution. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysis pieces highlight Oracle bonds yielding ~7% — a sign markets are pricing credit risk/tighter financial flexibility; relevant for fixed‑income aware investors but not an immediate equity catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Oracle insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares on Dec. 24 at ~$196.89 — a publicly filed SEC Form 4 that may reinforce investor worry about near‑term sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports and commentaries (Yahoo/InsiderMonkey) say Oracle is under pressure as aggressive AI commitments are stretching the balance sheet and contributing to the stock’s sharp pullback; these narratives emphasize rising debt, higher capex and project delays. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Social‑media and analyst chatter highlight investor fear over rapid AI investment and data‑center execution risk; combined with recent price weakness and media discussion (Jim Cramer coverage), this amplifies near‑term volatility risk. Read More.

Oracle 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.