Oracle Speeds Up Tiny Dividends

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced after markets closed today that it would accelerate its dividend payments for the second, third and fourth quarters of its 2013 fiscal year. The company will pay shareholders of record a total of $0.18 on December 21.

According to the press release:

This accelerated dividend is intended by the Board to be in lieu of quarterly dividends Oracle would have otherwise announced with its quarterly earnings results for the second, third and fourth quarters of fiscal year 2013, and that would have been paid in calendar year 2013.

We noted Oracle as one of our eight tech giants due for a large, one-time special dividend payment to shareholders by the end of this calendar year. This accelerated payment doesn’t count.

The company has $31 billion in cash and a one-time dividend of, say, $0.30 in addition to the usual dividend payment might have been more well received. The company’s annual dividend yield is a scant 0.70% and shareholders are not likely to be terribly excited by today’s announcement.

Shares of Oracle stock are trading down about 0.7% in after-hours trading today, at $32.19 in a 52-week range of $24.91 to $33.29.

Paul Ausick