Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 2,240 Shares of Oracle Corporation $ORCL

Key Points

• Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its Oracle stake by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,240 shares and leaving it with 112,655 shares valued at about $21.96 million.
• Institutional interest in Oracle remains strong overall, with major holders like Vanguard and Geode adding shares and institutions collectively owning 42.44% of the stock.
• Oracle continues to draw attention from analysts and investors thanks to its AI/cloud growth narrative, though concerns remain around debt, capital spending, and some regulatory scrutiny tied to TikTok-related issues.

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its stake in shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Free Report) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 112,655 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock after selling 2,240 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Oracle were worth $21,958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 174,802,084 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $34,070,674,000 after purchasing an additional 5,841,584 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,734,944 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $7,328,754,000 after purchasing an additional 665,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 1.2% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 23,310,827 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $6,555,961,000 after purchasing an additional 266,588 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,336,031,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 3.4% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,696,752 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $3,289,595,000 after purchasing an additional 381,572 shares during the last quarter. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle is benefiting from renewed enthusiasm for AI-related software stocks, with investors viewing the company as a key AI/cloud infrastructure winner alongside peers like Snowflake and ServiceNow. Snowflake, Oracle, ServiceNow Stocks Rally As AI Trade Heats Up Again
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish trading signals and unusual options activity point to stronger near-term sentiment, including a Power Inflow alert and a big jump in call buying. Oracle Shares Rise 4% After Key Trading Signal
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to highlight Oracle’s AI cloud backlog and improving outlook, suggesting investors are focusing more on growth potential than on recent volatility. Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Oracle, Intuit and Progress Software
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent pieces frame Oracle as a possible undervalued AI beneficiary, reinforcing the case for continued investor interest in the stock. Is Oracle Stock an Undervalued Stock to Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Oracle is also drawing regulatory scrutiny over TikTok U.S. data safeguards and recommendation-algorithm concerns, which is not a direct business hit but could add headline risk. Democratic senator wants TikTok US JV, Oracle to answer questions on platform safeguards
• Neutral Sentiment: Some investors are still focused on Oracle’s debt load and capital spending for AI data centers, a longer-term concern that could cap enthusiasm if profitability doesn’t keep up. Concerns Over Debt Weigh on Oracle (ORCL) Amid AI Data Center Expansion

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORCL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $300.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $229.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $261.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other news, EVP Stuart Levey sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.19, for a total transaction of $2,642,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at $604,155.51. This trade represents a 81.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through 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.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $225.85 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $170.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.35. The stock has a market cap of $649.55 billion, a PE ratio of 40.55, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.55. Oracle Corporation has a 52-week low of $134.57 and a 52-week 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $17.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.91 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 25.30% and a return on equity of 62.70%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. Oracle has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.960-2.000 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

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

Oracle Company Profile

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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