Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 6% – Here’s Why

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s stock price traded up 6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $156.77 and last traded at $154.50. Approximately 24,515,779 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 28,730,990 shares. The stock had previously closed at $145.75.

Oracle News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle’s expanded, multi-year partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) calls for HPE Juniper networking equipment, routing, switching and support across Oracle’s global AI data centers. The agreement reinforces expectations for gigawatt-scale infrastructure expansion and potentially makes Oracle’s massive cloud backlog more achievable. HPE and Oracle Deepen Networking Collaboration
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are focused on Oracle’s reported $638 billion backlog and management’s target for roughly 58%–64% cloud growth. Converting more of that backlog into revenue would support the bullish view that AI contracts can accelerate Oracle’s cloud business. Oracle Jumps Before Its $638 Billion Backlog Faces Reality
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain constructive despite recent target reductions. Jefferies maintained a Buy rating with a $290 target, while RBC reaffirmed Sector Perform with a $190 target, leaving substantial potential upside based on the cited share price. Oracle Stock Could Be Software’s Next Big Winner
• Neutral Sentiment: Options markets imply Oracle could move about 11% or more after earnings, highlighting unusually high event risk. Investors want evidence that heavy AI infrastructure spending is producing durable revenue growth and improving cash generation. Oracle Stock Could Swing 11% on Q1 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Oracle’s investment program is weighing on financial quality: fiscal 2026 free cash flow was reported at negative $23.7 billion, leverage is elevated, and the company may require substantial additional financing. S&P’s BBB- rating and the prospect of higher interest rates increase sensitivity to borrowing costs.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts have trimmed some fair-value estimates, reflecting concerns about capital expenditures, debt, earnings quality and whether Oracle’s backlog can be converted profitably. The September 10 report and forward spending guidance are therefore critical tests of the AI-cloud strategy. Oracle Stock Gets Fair Value Trim

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Oracle from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Oracle from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. CLSA initiated coverage on Oracle in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $145.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Oracle from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $261.68.

Oracle Trading Up 3.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The business’s fifty day moving average is $139.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.31. The firm has a market cap of $456.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.74.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $19.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.10 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 58.62% and a net margin of 25.37%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 EPS. Oracle has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.720-1.760 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 8.050-8.050 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Oracle Corporation will post 6.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Henley sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.16, for a total transaction of $63,664,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,664,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ORCL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Oracle by 189.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 153,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $25,593,000 after buying an additional 100,494 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,418 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $903,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Oracle by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,348 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its stake in Oracle by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 15,038 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,288,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its holdings in Oracle by 19.2% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 52,856 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $11,556,000 after purchasing an additional 8,530 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.