Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Down 2.6% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) were down 2.6% on Friday . The company traded as low as $163.24 and last traded at $164.6890. Approximately 27,119,674 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 16% from the average daily volume of 23,352,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.01.

Oracle News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullish call — An analyst dubbed Oracle a “decade stock” that could more than double over time, arguing current weakness (debt and AI worries) may create a buying opportunity for long-term investors. Oracle is a “Decade Stock,” Could More Than Double, Says Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: New product launch in healthcare — Oracle unveiled the Life Sciences AI Data Platform, expanding its generative-AI offerings into pharma/clinical data (129M+ de-identified records), which could drive enterprise revenue and higher-margin services. Oracle Life Sciences AI Data Platform
• Positive Sentiment: Customer win in hospitality — IHG approved Oracle OPERA Cloud as a property-management provider across multiple regions, a commercial endorsement that supports recurring cloud bookings and cross-sell opportunities. Oracle Approved by IHG Hotels & Resorts
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder returns track record — A Forbes piece highlights Oracle’s large capital return program (~$158B returned), a structural positive for investors who value buybacks and dividends during pullbacks. How Oracle Stock Returned $158B To Shareholders
• Neutral Sentiment: Options-service commentary — Schaeffer’s Weekend Trader highlighted ORCL as a “popular cloud stock pick for 2026” and provided a specific bearish options trade to subscribers — indicates active derivatives strategies around the name. Popular Cloud Stock Pick for 2026 Option Bears
• Neutral Sentiment: Trending/market context — Coverage notes ORCL is trending amid a broader tech sell-off; some press attributes intraday moves more to sector rotation than company-specific guidance. Oracle Stock Is Trending Thursday: What’s Going On?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor lawsuits and bondholder investigations — Rosen Law (senior notes), Pomerantz, and Girard Sharp have issued notices/investigations tied to Oracle’s 2024-2025 offerings and the 2025 AI buildout deal, increasing legal risk and potential financial exposure. ROSEN, GLOBAL INVESTOR COUNSEL, Encourages Oracle Corporation Investors
• Negative Sentiment: AI-related sell-off driving sharp declines — Multiple outlets report the stock has tumbled more than 50% from its peak as investors punish OpenAI exposure, AI buildout costs and leverage concerns; this narrative is the primary immediate driver of price weakness. Oracle Stock Drops by More Than Half Amid AI Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Market analysis of the decline — Reports from The Motley Fool and Zacks attribute recent slump to broad AI sell-off and investor unease over debt/OpenAI ties, reinforcing downside momentum. Why Oracle Stock Slumped on Thursday

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Oracle from $360.00 to $260.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Oracle from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Oracle from $364.00 to $339.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $300.46.

Oracle Price 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $237.44. The company has a market capitalization of $473.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.62. Oracle had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 70.60%. The firm had revenue of $16.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.47 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, EVP Douglas A. Kehring sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.89, for a total transaction of $6,821,150.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 33,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,555,709.82. This represents a 50.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the 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 transaction, the director owned 25,596 shares in the company, valued at $5,032,429.56. This trade represents a 7.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,223 shares of company stock worth $12,136,764. 40.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Joseph Group Capital Management acquired a new stake in Oracle during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle during the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 130.0% in the third quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.