Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Upgraded at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

ORCL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $380.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a report on Monday, January 5th. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Oracle from $246.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.50.

Oracle Stock Down 4.3%

Shares of ORCL opened at $193.53 on Monday. Oracle has a 52 week low of $118.86 and a 52 week high of $345.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $556.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.38, a PEG ratio of 1.79 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $205.28 and a 200-day moving average of $241.86.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.62. The business had revenue of $16.06 billion for 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%.Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.62, for a total transaction of $1,403,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,212,431.46. This represents a 9.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total transaction of $2,953,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 234,077 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 126,588 shares of company stock valued at $33,155,596. Corporate insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ORCL. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC raised its stake 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 period. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 76.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and bulls still point to meaningful upside based on Oracle’s cloud/AI positioning and recent upgrades — some firms view the post?selloff valuation as attractive and have raised targets. Top Analyst Sees 48% Upside
• Positive Sentiment: Support for the bull case: Oracle’s large AI backlog, cross?cloud footprint, and recent commercial wins (including the TikTok-related deal and potential hyperscaler business) are cited as drivers that could reaccelerate revenue and justify higher multiples. 2 Big Reasons Oracle Can Climb
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst commentary — some warn Oracle’s AI?driven valuation and debt?fueled capex create execution and timing risk even as others remain bullish; this keeps sentiment and targets wide. Meta Compute Reaffirms Bullish Thesis
• Negative Sentiment: Immediate catalyst for the drop: bondholders sued, alleging Oracle made false or misleading statements in the offering documents for the Sept. 25 $18B note/bond sale tied to its AI infrastructure — the suit claims Oracle failed to disclose it would need to sell substantial additional debt. Reuters: Oracle sued by bondholders
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and financing risk: the proposed class action increases the chance of settlement costs, management/time distraction, and could lift perceived credit risk — a meaningful concern given Oracle’s elevated leverage and recent debt?funded capex. Why Oracle Stock Dropped Today (Fool)

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.