Piper Sandler Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $240.00 to $210.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 40.36% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Oracle from $400.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Oracle from $300.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Oracle from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $272.09.

Oracle Stock Down 1.3%

Oracle stock opened at $149.62 on Wednesday. Oracle has a 12 month low of $118.86 and a 12 month high of $345.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $167.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28. The firm has a market cap of $429.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.12, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.66.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.08. Oracle had a return on equity of 70.60% and a net margin of 25.28%.The company had revenue of $17.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. Oracle’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 predict that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.61, for a total value of $437,064.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,032,429.56. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.89, for a total value of $2,953,350.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 234,077 shares in the company, valued at $46,087,420.53. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 72,223 shares of company stock worth $13,689,064 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HFM Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Oracle by 290.9% in the 4th quarter. HFM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oracle in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Oracle in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Oracle during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 42.44% of the company’s stock.

Key Oracle News

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat, strong cloud growth and raised FY‑27 revenue outlook — Oracle topped revenue and EPS estimates (Q3 revenue $17.19B, EPS $1.79), cloud revenue rose ~44%, and management raised fiscal‑2027 revenue guidance to $90B, which eased concerns about return on its AI investments. Reuters: Oracle rallies as strong revenue forecast eases concerns
• Positive Sentiment: Massive backlog signals multiyear AI demand — Oracle disclosed Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) around $553B, indicating sustained demand for AI data centers and cloud capacity that supports long‑term revenue visibility. TipRanks: $553B backlog
• Positive Sentiment: Customer & partner momentum — Management name‑checked AI hardware partners (including Cerebras) and highlighted expanding enterprise wins (e.g., TikTok U.S. business), reinforcing Oracle’s position in the AI infrastructure stack. CNBC: Cerebras named by Oracle
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend and shareholder communications — Oracle announced a $0.50 quarterly dividend (ex‑div Apr 9), a modest yield that is unlikely to move the stock materially but supports income investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst moves — Some banks trimmed price targets after the release but many kept constructive ratings; sentiment is varied as analysts balance acceleration in cloud revenue against financing risks.
• Negative Sentiment: Huge capex, rising debt and cash‑flow strain — Oracle is funding a $50B+ AI data‑center buildout, pushing debt above ~$100B and producing sharply negative free cash flow (cited concerns that spending is compressing near‑term margins). These financial strains are the main downside risk. Fortune: free cash flow crunch CNBC: debt/financing concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Legal noise — Multiple securities‑class‑action alerts and firm filings were announced after the quarter, creating potential legal overhang and distraction for management. GlobeNewswire: class action alerts
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical market focus — Broader market attention on oil and the Iran conflict is keeping investors’ eyes off company fundamentals at times; energy and rate moves can amplify volatility in tech names like ORCL. Barron’s: Oracle vs. Iran / market context

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.