Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Key Points

• Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. cut its Oracle stake by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 7,978 shares and leaving it with 10,040 shares worth about $1.96 million.
• Oracle continues to attract attention for its AI and cloud growth story, with UBS raising its price target to $285 and other commentary pointing to strong demand for AI infrastructure and cloud services.
• Despite the upbeat AI narrative, shares have been volatile ahead of earnings as investors worry that heavy AI spending could weigh on near-term margins; Oracle’s stock was down 5.7% in the latest trading session.

Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. reduced its position in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 44.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,040 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 7,978 shares during the period. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ORCL. Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 3.0% in the third quarter. Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Everest Management Corp. boosted its holdings in Oracle by 0.9% in the third quarter. Everest Management Corp. now owns 5,265 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,481,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 0.5% in the third quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,627 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $2,708,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp boosted its holdings in Oracle by 1.0% in the third quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 4,988 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Oracle by 76.9% in the third quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oracle News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target on Oracle to $285 from $250 and kept a buy rating, saying AI momentum remains strong and could support further upside. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: Oracle continues to be viewed as a major AI infrastructure winner, with analysts and market commentary highlighting cloud demand, multi-megawatt data center expansion, and its growing role in AI workloads. TheStreet article
• Positive Sentiment: Arm said Oracle is among the customers using its data center CPU chips, reinforcing Oracle’s position in the AI cloud ecosystem. Reuters article
• Neutral Sentiment: Oracle shares are under pressure ahead of earnings, with investors focusing on whether AI spending will translate into enough growth and margin improvement to justify recent gains. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: There is also elevated market caution around earnings expectations and options activity, with unusually heavy put trading suggesting some traders are hedging or betting on a near-term pullback. Barchart article
• Negative Sentiment: Oracle has been slipping on concerns that the company’s aggressive AI infrastructure spending could pressure near-term profitability before the June 10 report. Invezz article

Oracle Stock Down 5.7%

Oracle stock opened at $230.53 on Thursday. Oracle Corporation has a 1-year low of $134.57 and a 1-year high of $345.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $663.02 billion, a PE ratio of 41.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.65. The stock's fifty day moving average is $176.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.21.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.08. Oracle had a return on equity of 62.70% and a net margin of 25.30%.The company had revenue of $17.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. Oracle's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Oracle has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.960-2.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Corporation will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Oracle news, EVP Stuart Levey sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.19, for a total value of $2,642,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,429 shares in the company, valued at $604,155.51. This trade represents a 81.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 40.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ORCL. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Oracle from $400.00 to $320.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Oracle from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on Oracle from $310.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Mizuho set a $320.00 target price on Oracle in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $263.62.

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.

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