Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price Down 1.8% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) fell 1.8% during trading on Friday after Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $165.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Oracle traded as low as $149.84 and last traded at $150.1320. 78,146,844 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 168% from the average session volume of 29,182,564 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.94.

Several other research analysts have also commented on ORCL. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Oracle from $241.00 to $215.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Oracle from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings cut Oracle from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Mizuho set a $320.00 target price on Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $256.05.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.16, for a total value of $63,664,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,664,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle exceeded fiscal Q1 expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $1.92 versus $1.74 expected and revenue of approximately $19.35 billion versus $19.13 billion. Revenue increased nearly 30% year over year. Surging cloud revenue boosted Oracle’s quarterly results
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud infrastructure revenue surged 121% to about $7.4 billion, demonstrating that demand for AI computing is converting into reported sales. Cloud revenue overall rose 62%, while remaining performance obligations expanded to a record $664 billion. Oracle Stock Rises After Solid Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its fiscal 2027 outlook to at least $90 billion in revenue and $8.10 in adjusted EPS. Analysts viewed the quarter as evidence that Oracle’s AI investments are beginning to monetize, with customer prepayments and contracts helping support expansion. Oracle Q1 Earnings Call Centers on AI Capacity and Raised Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings, including DA Davidson at $225 and Cantor Fitzgerald at $284. Heavy call-option activity also indicates traders are positioning for additional upside.
• Neutral Sentiment: Oracle is bringing roughly 850 megawatts of new data-center capacity online, but its Financial Analyst Day will be important for clarifying returns on capital, financing needs and the timing of positive free cash flow.
• Negative Sentiment: Capital spending remains the main concern. Oracle has maintained a fiscal 2027 capital-expenditure forecast of roughly $90 billion to $95 billion, while reported free cash flow remained negative. The company also sold $20 billion of stock, highlighting funding pressure.
• Negative Sentiment: Some data-center projects face delays, including a New Mexico facility affected by a stalled gas pipeline. RBC lowered its price target to $165, and BMO reduced its target to $195, reflecting caution about leverage, execution and cash-flow recovery.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the second quarter worth $229,000. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 3.6% in the second quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,809 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,815 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,731,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 20,411 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,991,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. Finally, Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 4,881 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $432.45 billion, a PE ratio of 25.75, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $140.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.46.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.18. Oracle had a net margin of 25.37% and a return on equity of 58.62%. The business had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Oracle has set its Q2 2027 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 8.100-8.100 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Oracle Corporation will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 34.31%.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation is a global enterprise technology company that develops and provides database software, cloud infrastructure, business applications and related technology services. Its offerings help organizations manage data, run applications, support business operations and build technology environments across on-premises, hybrid and cloud-based settings.

The company’s products include Oracle Database, MySQL, Java, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and a broad portfolio of cloud applications for enterprise resource planning, financial management, human resources, supply chain management, customer experience and industry-specific operations.