Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price Down 1.7% – Should You Sell?

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shares were down 1.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $186.15 and last traded at $189.5820. Approximately 18,941,117 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 16,656,666 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.84.

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”

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ORCL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $320.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Oracle from $368.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Oracle from $355.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.94.

Oracle Stock Up 4.8%

The company has a market cap of $571.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $208.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $241.90. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.62. Oracle had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 70.60%. The business had revenue of $16.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Oracle Corporation will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders 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 1.0%. Oracle’s payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 5,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.62, for a total value of $1,403,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,212,431.46. The trade was a 9.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 126,588 shares of company stock valued at $33,155,596. Company insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Oracle by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 168,960,500 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $47,518,451,000 after acquiring an additional 4,681,626 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Oracle by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,459,391 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $16,060,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252,723 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 23,310,827 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,555,961,000 after purchasing an additional 266,588 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,275,378,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Oracle by 0.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,938,457 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,357,572,000 after buying an additional 98,693 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

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.