Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Up 4.8% – Still a Buy?

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shot up 4.8% on Friday . The company traded as high as $200.18 and last traded at $198.7470. 26,066,835 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 42% from the average session volume of 18,375,195 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.65.

Key Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI reaffirmed an Outperform rating and a $275 price target, citing large multi‑year data‑center leases (reported as roughly $1.2B/month) and multicloud AI demand — a vote of confidence in Oracle’s backlog-to-revenue path. Evercore ISI Reaffirms Outperform on Oracle (ORCL)
• Positive Sentiment: Oracle reported a Q3 EPS beat ($2.26 vs. $1.64 est.), revenue up ~14% y/y and a record backlog — signals that contract wins and capacity expansion could drive cloud revenue growth later in 2026. Here’s What Lifted Oracle (ORCL) in Q3
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat highlights Oracle as a second‑half growth play: cloud infrastructure momentum and backlog conversion could reaccelerate revenue later in 2026, supporting a consensus price target well above current levels. 3 Tech Stocks Positioned for the Next Leg of the Bull Market (ORCL)
• Positive Sentiment: Oracle is part of the investor group in the ByteDance/TikTok U.S. JV — a strategic tie that could deliver longer‑term commercial or technology opportunities (brand/profile benefit). TikTok picked by FIFA as video content partner at 2026 World Cup
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts maintain a mix of ratings: the street consensus remains mildly positive (Moderate Buy), but price targets vary widely — signaling disagreement on timing of cloud revenue conversion. Oracle Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy”
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market pieces (e.g., inclusion in lists of tech names for the next bull leg) create thematic interest in ORCL as an AI/cloud infrastructure play rather than a pure software legacy stock. 74% of the $317B Portfolio… (Buffett/2026)
• Negative Sentiment: RBC cut its price target to $195 (from $250) — a nearer-term downgrade that highlights investor impatience around 2026 turning points and valuation risk while Oracle spends heavily on data centers. RBC Lowers Oracle PT to $195
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple analyst pieces flag Oracle’s debt‑funded, $50B+ capex plan and negative free cash flow as key risks — if contract rollouts or lease monetization slow, investor confidence could erode. Should You Hold Oracle Despite Debt-Fueled AI Data Center Bet? (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile skeptics (Jim Cramer) have publicly questioned Oracle’s business model and debt load, adding headline risk and fueling short‑term volatility. Jim Cramer on Oracle: “I’m Not Really Sure About Their Business Model”

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ORCL. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Oracle from $350.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $382.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $400.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Oracle from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.94.

Oracle Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $241.96. 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 market cap of $571.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.65.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $16.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 5 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is 37.59%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Clayton M. Magouyrk sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.64, for a total transaction of $11,065,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 154,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,610,859.20. The trade was a 20.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total value of $2,953,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 234,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,087,420.53. The trade was a 6.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 126,588 shares of company stock valued at $33,155,596. 40.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 189.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 153,580 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $25,593,000 after acquiring an additional 100,494 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Oracle by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,418 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Oracle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $289,000. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in Oracle by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 79,741 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $11,149,000 after purchasing an additional 6,148 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC grew its holdings in Oracle by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 3,601 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.