Oracle Corporation $ORCL Stock: M&G PLC Increases Stake

Key Points

• M&G PLC increased its Oracle stake by 117.4% in the third quarter, adding 40,622 shares to reach 75,233 shares valued at about $10.3 million.
• Oracle reported quarterly earnings and revenue above analyst estimates: EPS was $1.92 versus $1.74 expected, while revenue rose 29.6% year over year to $19.34 billion.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy”, with a $249.27 average price target, though several brokerages recently lowered their targets. Insider activity was mixed: a director bought 25,000 shares, while executives reported stock sales.

M&G PLC raised its holdings in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 117.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,233 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after buying an additional 40,622 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $10,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the third quarter worth $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the second quarter worth $29,000. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Markowski Investments acquired a new stake in shares of Oracle in the second quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, EVP Maria Smith sold 2,631 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.70, for a total transaction of $399,122.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 64,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,762,956.90. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Rusckowski bought 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $139.35 per share, for a total transaction of $3,483,750.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 25,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,538,096.50. This trade represents a 6,410.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,075 shares of company stock valued at $5,342,123. Company insiders own 38.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ORCL. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $280.00 to $250.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $290.00 price target (down from $320.00) on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $249.27.

Trending Headlines about Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle broke ground on its future Nashville global headquarters, a long-term investment intended to support growth in cloud, AI and healthcare and create thousands of jobs. Oracle Nashville headquarters announcement
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched AI-assisted treasury and customer analytics applications for financial institutions, adding to its cloud and AI product offerings. Oracle financial analytics announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Oracle says renewed rentals of older GPUs were priced at a premium, suggesting some continued demand for its existing AI capacity; however, this does not offset uncertainty around specific customer contracts. Report on GPU renewals and Microsoft
• Negative Sentiment: Reports said Oracle lost an estimated $7 billion Tencent chip-leasing deal and that Microsoft is winding down an AI-computing arrangement, reportedly because Oracle’s older Nvidia chips no longer meet Microsoft’s requirements. These developments raise questions about infrastructure demand and Oracle’s ability to secure customers for its planned capacity. Report on Tencent and Microsoft contracts
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary highlighted concentration and financing risks: Oracle’s AI backlog is said to rely heavily on OpenAI, while its aggressive data-center spending increases exposure to debt, project execution and potential AI-market setbacks. Analysis of Oracle's balance sheet and AI contracts

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $117.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $356.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Oracle Corporation has a 1 year low of $109.21 and a 1 year high of $250.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $137.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.83.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.18. Oracle had a return on equity of 48.85% and a net margin of 26.36%. The firm had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. Oracle's quarterly revenue was up 29.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Oracle has set its Q2 2027 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 8.100-8.100 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 6.71 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. Oracle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.35%.

Oracle Profile

Oracle Corporation is a technology company that develops and provides database software, cloud services, and enterprise applications. Its products help organizations manage data, run business operations, and build and deploy applications. Oracle's offerings include Oracle Database, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and cloud-based applications for functions such as finance, human resources, supply chain management, and customer experience. The company also provides software support, consulting, and related services.

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