Oracle Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ORCL)

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 606,335 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 77% compared to the average volume of 342,777 put options.

Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL traded down $10.30 on Thursday, hitting $136.37. 41,614,194 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,855,730. The firm has a market capitalization of $391.81 billion, a PE ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $191.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $235.52. Oracle has a 1-year low of $118.86 and a 1-year high of $345.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued 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. Oracle had a return on equity of 70.60% and a net margin of 25.28%.The company had revenue of $16.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Oracle’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. Oracle’s payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ORCL. Bank of America cut their target price on Oracle from $368.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. 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. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on Oracle from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.72.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In related news, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 234,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,087,420.53. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.61, for a total transaction of $437,064.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,032,429.56. The trade was a 7.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORCL. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 130.0% during the third quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 76.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Oracle in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Oracle by 290.9% during the 4th quarter. HFM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle won new healthcare AI pilot contracts (Oracle Health Clinical AI Agent selected by multiple Canadian organizations), validating product adoption in a visible vertical. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators still point to a large backlog and rapid cloud/AI revenue growth as fundamental supports for the business, giving long-term buyers reason to hold despite the pullback. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is recalibrating price targets: Citizens/JMP cut its target to $285 but kept a market?outperform view, and other shops (BMO, Scotiabank) trimmed targets while preserving constructive ratings — mixed signals that can stabilize but slow recovery. Read More. • Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Oracle announced very large AI infrastructure funding plans (reports of a $45–50B capital raise and related equity offerings). Investors fear dilution (equity portion) and rising leverage, pressuring the stock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Company is moving forward with major share/bond issuance programs (reports of a $20B common stock sale and senior notes), intensifying dilution and financing worries. That financing news is a near-term catalyst for selling. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms have filed or solicited plaintiffs for securities class actions related to Oracle’s disclosures and financing — legal risk increases uncertainty and can deter buy-side interest. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market narratives highlighting Oracle’s reliance on OpenAI and related commercial concentration have increased scrutiny and selling pressure — commentators argue this risk helped accelerate the recent drop. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that banks are shopping loans tied to Oracle’s data-center financing and widespread insider selling headlines add to sentiment weakness and technical pressure. Read More.

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.