BMO Capital Markets Has Lowered Expectations for Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Stock Price

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) had its price target reduced by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $270.00 to $205.00 in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the enterprise software provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 50.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $382.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Erste Group Bank cut Oracle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Oracle from $368.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Oracle from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Oracle from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.72.

Oracle Price Performance

NYSE ORCL opened at $136.37 on Wednesday. Oracle has a 1 year low of $118.86 and a 1 year high of $345.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $234.83. 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 company has a market cap of $391.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.64.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.62. Oracle had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 70.60%. The firm had revenue of $16.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,223 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.61, for a total value of $437,064.03. Following the sale, the director owned 25,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,032,429.56. The trade was a 7.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Hura sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 234,077 shares in the company, valued at $46,087,420.53. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 62,223 shares of company stock valued at $12,136,764 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oracle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Oracle by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 5,093,200 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,113,526,000 after purchasing an additional 360,000 shares in the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 626.1% during the third quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 11,537 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,245,000 after buying an additional 9,948 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Oracle by 9.2% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 3,817 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,937 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $7,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Group Inc. bought a new position in Oracle in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $239,000. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oracle posted a recent quarterly beat (EPS above consensus and ~14% revenue growth) and still shows a large services/backlog that supports cloud growth — a fundamental positive for long-term investors.
• Positive Sentiment: Record bond sale / debt funding helped calm credit markets and could smooth financing for Oracle’s AI center plans. TipRanks: Why Oracle’s Record Bond Sale Clears the Way for More AI Debt
• Positive Sentiment: New commercial wins: multiple Canadian healthcare organizations selected Oracle Health’s Clinical AI Agent for a pilot — evidence of enterprise demand for Oracle’s AI offerings. PR Newswire: Multiple Canadian Healthcare Organizations Select Oracle Health Clinical AI Agent
• Neutral Sentiment: Equity/debt issuance activity: Oracle has multiple financing vehicles active (equity distribution agreement, Series D mandatory convertible preferred, senior notes and planned large equity sale) — this provides capital but timing/structure will determine dilution vs. benefit. TipRanks: Oracle Issues Series D Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain mixed: some firms trimmed targets (BMO, Scotiabank, others) while many continue to rate ORCL a buy — the selloff has pushed valuations lower and widened the gap in analyst targets and scenarios.
• Negative Sentiment: Big AI funding plan: Oracle’s announced $45–50 billion AI infrastructure capital plan (equity + debt + other instruments) is the primary driver of the drop — investors worry about dilution from the equity component, incremental leverage and execution/timing risk. Yahoo Finance: Oracle Is Down After Unveiling AI Infrastructure Capital Plan
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple class-action and bondholder lawsuits announced alleging securities issues tied to Oracle disclosures and its debt/offering documents — legal risk can amplify short-term selling and add unknown costs. GlobeNewswire: ORCL Class Action Alert (Robbins LLP) BusinessWire: Howard G. Smith Class Action Notice
• Negative Sentiment: Funding/project risks: reports that banks are trying to offload data-center loans and a Michigan AG request to revisit utility approval for an Oracle/OpenAI data center raise execution and permitting concerns. TipRanks: Banks Explore Selling Data Center Loans Financial Post: Michigan AG Urges Revisit on Data Center Power Plan
• Negative Sentiment: Market positioning and flows: unusually heavy put buying and elevated trading volume show traders are short/hedged and pressure can accelerate declines while sentiment shifts. (Unusual put volume reported intraday.)

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.