Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Down 1.2% – Here’s Why

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s share price dropped 1.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $171.86 and last traded at $172.8860. Approximately 35,467,569 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 59% from the average daily volume of 22,360,803 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.90.

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 Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Oracle from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $400.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $360.00 to $260.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Oracle from $208.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $300.46.

Oracle Stock Down 2.6%

The company has a 50-day moving average of $194.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $237.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28. The company has a market capitalization of $473.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.61, for a total transaction of $437,064.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,596 shares in the company, valued at $5,032,429.56. This trade represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total value of $2,953,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 234,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,087,420.53. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,223 shares of company stock valued at $12,136,764. 40.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. Cullinan Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 113,241 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $22,072,000 after buying an additional 3,049 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in Oracle by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 2,532 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $493,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,071 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,993 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 2,394 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.