ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 25,769 Shares of Oracle Corporation $ORCL

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 421,765 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,769 shares during the period. Oracle accounts for about 1.6% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Oracle were worth $57,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH bought a new position in Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Basso Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Maseco LLP bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Markowski Investments bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Oracle News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho reaffirmed its $320 price target and “Outperform” rating, suggesting the firm believes Oracle’s long-term cloud and AI growth opportunity outweighs near-term infrastructure and regulatory challenges. Wall Street analyst updates Oracle stock price target
• Positive Sentiment: Oracle continues to cite strong cloud demand and approximately $664 billion in remaining performance obligations, providing substantial contracted revenue visibility. However, the company’s AI infrastructure investment is currently weighing on free cash flow. Will Rising Capex Weigh on Oracle’s Free Cash Flow Outlook?
• Neutral Sentiment: Oracle urged federal regulators to expedite approval of the Green Chile natural-gas pipeline, which is intended to supply its Project Jupiter AI data-center campus in New Mexico. Approval could support construction and ramp-up, while delays represent an execution risk. Oracle urges FERC to expedite New Mexico gas pipeline for Project Jupiter
• Negative Sentiment: September inflation data came in hotter than expected, lifting Treasury yields and reviving concerns about potential rate hikes. Higher borrowing costs generally pressure long-duration technology and growth stocks, including Oracle. Stock Market Today, Oct. 14: Oracle Tumbles on Hotter CPI Data Lifting Treasury Yields
• Negative Sentiment: Sharp declines across AI infrastructure stocks, including CoreWeave and Nebius, intensified worries about debt-funded data-center expansion. Oracle is being treated as part of that broader AI trade, despite its larger and more diversified business. Bitcoin miners plunge up to 13% in Wall Street’s worst selloff since July
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that rising capital expenditures could keep free cash flow negative and increase balance-sheet pressure as Oracle builds AI capacity. Uncertainty around Project Jupiter’s pipeline approval adds to those concerns.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp set a $285.00 price objective on Oracle in a report on Friday, September 11th. President Capital lowered their target price on Oracle from $360.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Monday, September 14th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Oracle from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $239.00) on shares of Oracle in a research report on Monday, September 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $251.72.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $130.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $394.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $158.89. Oracle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $114.50 and a fifty-two week high of $322.54.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.13 billion. Oracle had a return on equity of 48.85% and a net margin of 26.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. Oracle has set its Q2 2027 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 8.100-8.100 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Oracle Corporation will post 6.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.35%.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In related news, CEO Michael Sicilia sold 22,562 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.59, for a total value of $3,420,173.58. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 182,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,730,207.11. This trade represents a 10.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Stephen Rusckowski acquired 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $139.35 per share, for a total transaction of $3,483,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 25,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,538,096.50. This trade represents a 6,410.26% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 36,075 shares of company stock worth $5,342,123 in the last quarter. 38.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Oracle Profile

Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) is a global technology company that develops enterprise software, cloud services and related hardware. Its offerings help businesses manage databases, applications, data, infrastructure and other core information-technology operations.

The company is best known for its Oracle Database, along with cloud-based infrastructure and platform services. Oracle also provides enterprise applications for functions such as finance, human resources, supply-chain management, customer experience and industry-specific operations.