Handelsbanken Fonder AB Decreases Stake in Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Key Points

• Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its Oracle stake by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 145,867 shares and leaving it with 806,711 shares valued at about $157.2 million.
• Oracle remains heavily followed by institutions and insiders are active: hedge funds and other institutional investors still own 42.44% of the stock, while EVP Stuart Levey sold 15,000 shares in a pre-arranged 10b5-1 transaction.
• Analysts are still broadly positive on Oracle, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $261.46, even as the stock has faced recent selling pressure and was trading down 3.3% in the latest session.

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its position in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 806,711 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 145,867 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Oracle were worth $157,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.1% in the third quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 3,943 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,109,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $434,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Everest Management Corp. lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 0.9% in the third quarter. Everest Management Corp. now owns 5,265 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,481,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 0.5% in the third quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,627 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $2,708,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp lifted its position in shares of Oracle by 1.0% in the third quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 4,988 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $1,403,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Oracle

In other news, EVP Stuart Levey sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.19, for a total transaction of $2,642,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $604,155.51. This represents a 81.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 40.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Oracle from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Oracle from $400.00 to $320.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Oracle from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $261.46.

Key Headlines Impacting Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle landed a new multi-year U.S. Air Force cloud modernization contract worth $88 million and expanded its AI-focused defense work with the U.S. Department of Defense, reinforcing demand for its secure cloud and classified AI infrastructure. Oracle’s Expanding Defense AI Role And What It Could Mean For Investors
• Positive Sentiment: One analyst note highlighted Oracle as a hyperscaler with meaningful upside potential as AI and quantum infrastructure spending grows, suggesting the market still sees long-term growth opportunities. 2 Quantum Hyperscaler Stocks With 30% Price Target to Watch in May
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader IT stocks in India rallied despite weak market sentiment, but the move was tied more to sector rotation than to Oracle specifically. Infosys, OFSS, TechM, other IT stocks gain up to 3% despite weak market sentiment. Here's why
• Neutral Sentiment: Oracle’s stock has also been the subject of market chatter, including a bearish bet from investor Leopold Aschenbrenner and a comparison article that argued Salesforce may be the better AI cloud buy right now. Why AI Wunderkind Leopold Aschenbrenner Started Betting Against Nvidia, Oracle, Broadcom Salesforce vs. Oracle: Which AI-Driven Cloud Stock Is a Better Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: Oracle shares fell more than the market in the latest session, reflecting recent selling pressure despite the company’s strong fundamentals and AI-related growth narrative. Oracle (ORCL) Registers a Bigger Fall Than the Market: Important Facts to Note
• Negative Sentiment: Another headline noted Intel is closing the market-cap gap with Oracle, which may add to relative-performance concerns among large-cap tech investors. Intel stock just $8 billion away from overtaking Oracle in market cap

Oracle Trading Down 3.3%

ORCL opened at $186.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $536.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.55. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $163.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.56. Oracle Corporation has a one year low of $134.57 and a one year high of $345.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Oracle's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.91%.

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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