The top dividend stocks we track the short interest in are as follows: Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP), Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Kimberly Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).
As we have said, it takes much more conviction to short sell a stock that has a very high dividend. On top of having to pay a broker loan-call rate to borrow the stock, the dividend payouts have to be paid and the ex-dividend dates play into the equation as well.
Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) saw yet another drop in the short interest, by 6.5% to 18.785,495, versus 20,097,219 shares short as of May 31. Altria yields about 5% again.
American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) saw an 8.3% gain in the short interest to 3.27 million shares, versus 3.02 million shares short as of May 31. The dividend yield is about 4.5%, now that shares have slid to under $45 from a peak of $51.60.
Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) previously had seen a 19% surge in the short interest, but that fell by 4.4% to 36.69 million shares as of June 14. Annaly yields about 12.6%, based on its latest dividend, and shares are down handily from the highs as investors have been selling out of high-dividend mortgage-backed securities REITs.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) saw a very tiny drop of 0.6% in its short interest to 73.91 million shares in mid-June. AT&T’s dividend is 5.2%, as shares are down $4 from the recent peak. This is the highest yield of all 30 DJIA stocks.
Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) previously had seen a massive drop of 22% in its short interest, down to 5,360,046 shares short as of May 31. The mid-June short interest rose by 8.4% to 5,812,049 shares. Duke has a dividend yield of about 4.7%, and it just raised its dividend.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is the highest yielding conglomerate, and short sellers could not decide which way to go this time around. The short interest rose by a tiny 0.6% to 83,904,978 shares, after what had been a prior 10% drop in the short interest. GE still outyields the other conglomerates with a 3.3% yield.
Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) previously had seen a 6% drop in its short interest, but that was replaced by a surge of almost 14% to 7,935,659 shares short as of mid-June. The consumer products giant’s dividend yield is about 3.4%, now that shares are down $10 from the recent highs.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP) previously had seen a whopping 25% gain in its short interest, but this period was just a 1% drop to 2,790,105 shares (units) short. Its dividend is actually a distribution and is the equivalent of about 6.4%.
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) saw a drop of more than 10% in its short interest after a huge gain previously. The short interest fell to 82,261,024 shares as of mid-June, versus 93,101,555 shares as of May 31. Merck’s dividend yield is 3.7%.
The number of shares sold short in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) totaled 218,266,083 shares this period. This was a surge of 155% from the 85,357,440 shares short at the end of May. Pfizer has a yield of 3.4%.
Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) saw a big drop in its short interest of 12.5%, down to 19,790,665 shares in mid-June, versus 22,627,279 shares at the end of May. P&G’s dividend is 3.1%, as shares are still down more than $5 from recent highs.
Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) had previously seen an 8.5% gain in the short interest, but the mid-June short interest gave most of its back with a 7.2% drop down to 10,405,705 shares. Reynolds has a yield of about 5.3%.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) posted a 7.3% drop in its short interest to yet another post-February low in the short interest at 45.283 million shares. Verizon’s dividend yield is currently about 4.2% now that shares are down almost $4 from its 52-week high.
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