Oracle Is Flying High in the AI Age. Top Executives Sold Shares.

Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk sold 40,000 shares of company stock for $11 million on Oct. 21, according to an SEC filing. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg)

Oracle has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial-intelligence boom, and several top executives are taking the opportunity to sell company stock.

Two executives made sales last week, and a director has notified the Securities and Exchange Commission of his intent to make a sale. The highest-ranking official who sold stock was Clay Magouyrk, who was appointed co-CEO alongside Mike Sicilia in September.

On Oct. 21, Magouyrk sold 40,000 shares at an average of $276.64 each, or roughly $11 million in total, according to a Form 4 filed with the SEC. He directly owned 154,030 shares after the transaction, which were valued at some $43.6 million as of Friday, when the stock closed at $283.33.

Maria Smith, the company’s executive vice president and chief accounting officer, sold Oracle stock in two separate transactions. A Form 4 filed Thursday with the SEC shows that Smith sold 5,000 shares at $280 each in one transaction on Oct. 21, followed by a separate sale of 5,000 shares at around $280.62 each on Thursday.

All in all, Smith sold about $2.8 million worth of company stock. Following the transaction, she directly owned 47,083 shares worth $13.3 million based on Friday’s closing price.

Separate filings show both Magouyrk and Smith sold restricted stock that vested at earlier dates. Restricted stock units can be converted into company shares or cash, as long as the recipient meets certain requirements to own them in full. Until then, they have no monetary worth.

A spokesperson for Oracle declined to comment on the transactions.

Another official at Oracle is looking to sell. Director Jeffrey Berg filed a Form 144 with the SEC on Thursday, ahead of a proposed sale of 43,365 shares on Oct. 28.

Oracle’s growth has exploded following its strategic shift to cloud computing. The company has gone head-to-head with rivals like Microsoft and Amazon.com as it offers computing power for demanding AI workloads. It frequently features in the news alongside mentions of billionaire mogul Larry Ellison, its co-founder and former CEO, who has served as chief technology officer since 2014.

Oracle shares soared 24% in September alone, outstripping a gain of 3.5% for the benchmark S&P 500 index. The stock is up more than 70% this year; the index, by comparison, has risen 15%.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com