Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Trading Up 1.2% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Oracle shares rose 1.2% on Friday, briefly touching $197 before closing at $192.13, with trading volume below average.
• Recent reports highlight strong cloud and AI momentum, including a reported $553 billion AI cloud backlog, 44% cloud growth, and 22% revenue growth, which has prompted analysts to raise price targets.
• Oracle’s latest earnings beat expectations, with $1.79 EPS versus $1.71 expected and revenue of $17.19 billion, while the company also issued Q4 2026 EPS guidance of 1.960–2.000.

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) was up 1.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $197.00 and last traded at $192.1310. Approximately 10,753,915 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 27,076,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.77.

Key Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts raised price targets on Oracle after noting strong cloud growth and accelerating AI demand, reinforcing the view that Oracle can keep expanding its AI infrastructure business. Oracle Analysts See Up to 45% Upside as AI Cloud Growth Accelerates
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted Oracle’s $553 billion AI cloud backlog, 44% cloud growth, and 22% revenue growth, suggesting that enterprise AI demand is translating into real financial momentum. Oracle (ORCL) Stock Jumps as $553B AI Cloud Backlog Powers 22% Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Oracle’s NetSuite division is still growing, with revenue up 14%, and AI features plus the shift to cloud ERP could add another growth driver in 2026. Will Oracle's NetSuite Division Accelerate Revenue Growth in 2026?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on ORCL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Oracle from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $261.46.

Oracle Trading Up 1.2%

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 business's 50 day moving average price is $165.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $552.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.55.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.08. Oracle had a net margin of 25.30% and a return on equity of 62.70%. The business had revenue of $17.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.47 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Oracle has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.960-2.000 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Oracle Corporation will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Oracle's payout ratio is 35.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stuart Levey sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $604,155.51. The trade was a 81.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 40.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Oracle during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC grew its position in Oracle by 76.9% during the third quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 115 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. acquired a new position in Oracle during the third quarter worth about $35,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Oracle by 290.9% during the fourth quarter. HFM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Oracle during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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