Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Rating Increased to Outperform at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $185.00 price target on the enterprise software provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ORCL. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $382.00 target price on shares of Oracle in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Oracle from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Melius Research set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Oracle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oracle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.94.

Oracle Stock Performance

ORCL opened at $147.70 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $225.43. The company has a market capitalization of $424.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.64. Oracle has a 1 year low of $118.86 and a 1 year high of $345.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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. The company had revenue of $16.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.19 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 70.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Oracle will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Oracle’s payout ratio is 37.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Oracle news, 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 transaction of $2,953,350.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 234,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,087,420.53. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Douglas A. Kehring sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.89, for a total value of $6,821,150.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 33,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,555,709.82. This represents a 50.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 72,223 shares of company stock worth $13,689,064 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 40.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oracle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Oracle by 7.6% during the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 5,093,200 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $1,113,526,000 after buying an additional 360,000 shares during the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 626.1% in the third quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 11,537 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,245,000 after buying an additional 9,948 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Oracle by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,937 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $7,201,000 after buying an additional 1,515 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Oracle by 45.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,723 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $814,000 after buying an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 40,946 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $11,516,000 after buying an additional 3,184 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Oracle

Here are the key news stories impacting Oracle this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer upgraded ORCL from Market Perform to Outperform and set a $185 price target, citing an attractive valuation after the recent selloff and easing OpenAI risk — a clear catalyst for buying interest. Why Oracle Stock Is Up Around 3% Today
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage momentum: multiple outlets (Benzinga, TipRanks) note the same Oppenheimer upgrade and $185 PT, reinforcing buy-side momentum and raising the stock’s short-term upside narrative. Oracle Stock Is Climbing Today: What’s Happening?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and bullish pieces argue the pullback creates a value opportunity for long-term cloud/AI exposure, which supports constructive positioning by investors willing to look through near-term execution noise. Why Oracle Stock Bumped Higher on Wednesday
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional analyst activity (new price targets reported by Finbold/others) is keeping the story dynamic — helpful for volume but mixed in directional conviction. Analyst sets Oracle stock price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts note ORCL is underperforming the broader tech sector, suggesting upside depends on a sustained recovery in cloud revenue growth and AI monetization. Oracle Stock: Is ORCL Underperforming the Technology Sector?
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk: multiple securities class-action filings and law-firm notices allege misleading disclosures around AI spending, OpenAI exposure and capex — these suits can pressure sentiment, increase legal costs, and create headline risk. Oracle Lawsuits Put AI Spending Risks And Disclosure In Spotlight
• Negative Sentiment: Formal notice from Levi & Korsinsky and other firms highlights the class-action timeline and potential for consolidated litigation — short-term volatility could follow as investors price legal exposure. Oracle Corporation Sued for Securities Law Violations
• Negative Sentiment: Fundamental concern: a Forbes piece flags slowing cloud revenue growth and rising capex as signs Oracle may be losing some AI momentum — a reminder execution on heavy infrastructure spending is not guaranteed. Is Oracle Stock Losing Its AI Edge?

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.