Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 6.5% – Here’s Why

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shot up 6.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $205.00 and last traded at $203.4220. 24,370,408 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 26,754,004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.96.

Oracle News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle is benefiting from renewed enthusiasm for AI-related software stocks, with investors viewing the company as a key AI/cloud infrastructure winner alongside peers like Snowflake and ServiceNow. Snowflake, Oracle, ServiceNow Stocks Rally As AI Trade Heats Up Again
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish trading signals and unusual options activity point to stronger near-term sentiment, including a Power Inflow alert and a big jump in call buying. Oracle Shares Rise 4% After Key Trading Signal
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to highlight Oracle’s AI cloud backlog and improving outlook, suggesting investors are focusing more on growth potential than on recent volatility. Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Oracle, Intuit and Progress Software
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent pieces frame Oracle as a possible undervalued AI beneficiary, reinforcing the case for continued investor interest in the stock. Is Oracle Stock an Undervalued Stock to Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Oracle is also drawing regulatory scrutiny over TikTok U.S. data safeguards and recommendation-algorithm concerns, which is not a direct business hit but could add headline risk. Democratic senator wants TikTok US JV, Oracle to answer questions on platform safeguards
• Neutral Sentiment: Some investors are still focused on Oracle’s debt load and capital spending for AI data centers, a longer-term concern that could cap enthusiasm if profitability doesn’t keep up. Concerns Over Debt Weigh on Oracle (ORCL) Amid AI Data Center Expansion

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ORCL. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Arete Research set a $255.00 target price on Oracle and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on Oracle from $342.00 to $285.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Oracle from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Oracle from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $261.46.

Oracle Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.35. The stock has a market cap of $649.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.08. Oracle had a return on equity of 62.70% and a net margin of 25.30%.The firm had revenue of $17.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Oracle has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.960-2.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.91%.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, EVP Stuart Levey sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.19, for a total value of $2,642,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $604,155.51. This trade represents a 81.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 40.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HFM Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 290.9% in the 4th quarter. HFM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors 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.