Orange S.A. (NYSE:ORAN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Orange S.A. (NYSE:ORAN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 856,000 shares, a growth of 27.3% from the May 31st total of 672,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 599,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Orange

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its holdings in Orange by 60.7% in the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,642,782 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,777,000 after acquiring an additional 620,438 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Orange by 20.6% in the 1st quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 909,419 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,661,000 after acquiring an additional 155,549 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Orange by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 827,488 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,508,000 after acquiring an additional 59,052 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Orange by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 378,199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,346,000 after acquiring an additional 25,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Orange by 544.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 329,702 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,788,000 after acquiring an additional 278,550 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ORAN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Orange in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Orange in a research note on Friday, May 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Orange from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.08.

Orange Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ORAN opened at $10.14 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.41. Orange has a twelve month low of $9.82 and a twelve month high of $12.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Orange Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a yield of 5.1%. This is a positive change from Orange’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd.

About Orange

Orange SA provides various fixed telephony and mobile telecommunications, data transmission, and other value-added services to customers, businesses, and other telecommunications operators in France and internationally. The company operates through France; Spain and Other European Countries; The Africa and Middle East; Enterprise; Orange business; Totem; International Carriers & Shared Services; and Mobile Financial Services segments.