Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Down 3.4% – Should You Sell?

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shares fell 3.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $170.60 and last traded at $173.88. 37,668,789 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 77% from the average session volume of 21,278,037 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.92.

Key Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlights Oracle’s multicloud AI momentum — multicloud database consumption up ~817% year-over-year and new programs aimed at deeper enterprise adoption, which supports durable revenue and consumption growth. Is Oracle’s Multicloud AI Strategy Powering Sustainable Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim’s take (covered by MarketWatch) argues fears about Oracle’s AI-related debt and concentration with OpenAI are overblown and that the company has a large long-term opportunity — a supportive analyst view for longer-term upside. Oracle’s stock could be a big winner for the next decade, according to this analyst. Here’s why.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor commentary (Seeking Alpha) frames recent weakness as a buying opportunity, pointing to backlog diversification and cloud consumption trends that could reaccelerate revenue and margins as deals convert. Oracle: ‘Buy’ The Dip As Backlog Diversification Continues
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation/price-deck pieces (Yahoo) assess whether the recent pullback leaves ORCL fairly priced given cloud growth focus — useful for investors deciding entry points but not an immediate catalyst. Is Oracle (ORCL) Fairly Priced After Recent Share Price Pullback And Cloud Growth Focus
• Negative Sentiment: News explains the selloff drivers: profit-taking after a strong run, worries about OpenAI concentration and AI-related capital intensity; those headlines and elevated trading volume are pressuring the stock near its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Why Oracle (ORCL) Shares Are Falling Today
• Negative Sentiment: Technical and liquidity context: heavy volume on the drop, price below the 50-day and well under the 200-day average, which can trigger momentum selling and caution among short-term holders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Oracle from $350.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Mizuho set a $400.00 target price on Oracle in a report on Monday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Oracle in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Redburn Partners set a $175.00 price target on Oracle in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $303.51.

Oracle Trading Down 3.4%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $201.12 and a 200 day moving average of $240.80. The firm has a market cap of $499.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.68, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $16.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.19 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 70.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. Analysts predict that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 5,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.62, for a total transaction of $1,403,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,083 shares in the company, valued at $13,212,431.46. The trade was a 9.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Berg sold 49,365 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.02, for a total value of $13,971,282.30. Following the sale, the director directly owned 151,999 shares in the company, valued at $43,018,756.98. The trade was a 24.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 116,588 shares of company stock valued at $27,511,146. Insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 7.6% during the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 5,093,200 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $1,113,526,000 after buying an additional 360,000 shares in the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. grew its stake in Oracle by 626.1% during the 3rd quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 11,537 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,245,000 after acquiring an additional 9,948 shares in the last quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 3,817 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,937 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $7,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Group Inc. purchased a new position in Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $239,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Company 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.