The top dividend stocks we are tracking in the short interest 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), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).
As we have said before, 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 6.8%, to 17,512,090 shares short as of June 28, versus 18,785,495 shares as of June 14. The short sellers keep disappearing against big tobacco here. Altria yields only about 4.9% as of now, because shares are up around $37 again.
American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) previously saw only an 8% gain or so in the short interest, but the short interest grew a sharp 30.7% to 4,274,596 shares as of June 28, versus 3,271,196 shares as of June 14. The dividend yield is now about 4.4% as the stock has tried to base after a sell-off of more than 10% in its share price.
Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) generally has seen a rise in the short interest, even though last period’s was down, but this report showed a gain of about 2% to 37,388,702 shares short, versus 36,691,015 shares in the prior report. Mortgage REITs have been getting slammed, but short sellers have to be short that double-digit yield as well. Annaly is down sharply from its highs but still has an indicated 13%+ yield.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) saw a gain of about 4% in the short interest to 76,909,012 shares as of June 28, versus 73,910,122 as of June 14. AT&T’s dividend is 5.1% and is the highest yield of all 30 DJIA stocks.
Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) tracked AEP with a higher short interest as investors worry about rising rates and utilities. The short interest rose almost 22% to 7,070,415 shares, versus 5,812,049 shares as of June 14. Duke has a dividend yield of about 4.6%, and it just raised its dividend.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is the highest yielding conglomerate, but short sellers have been undecided here. This is the second change of under 1% since previously seeing a 10% drop in the short interest. GE’s short interest fell to 84,660,906 shares as of June 28, versus 83,904,978 shares as of June 14. GE shares come with a dividend yield of 3.2%.
Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) added again in the short interest with a 5% gain on top of a prior 14% gain in the short interest. The June 28 short interest was 8,330,897 shares, versus 7,935,659 shares short as of June 14. The consumer products giant’s dividend yield is about 3.3%.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP) generally has risen, and this report showed a gain of more than 8%: 3,017,578 units versus 2,790,105 units short. Its dividend is actually a distribution and now is back down to the equivalent of about 6%.
Big Pharma short changes: Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) saw another drop of close to 10% in its short interest: 9.9% to 74.07 million shares as of June 28, versus 82.26 million as of June 14. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has continued to see its short interest rise, likely as a result of a spin-out: what was previously a more than a doubling of the short interest was followed with another gain of more than 50% to 335.5 million shares short as of June 28, versus 218.2 million as of June 14. Merck has a yield of 3.6%, versus Pfizer’s yield of 3.4%.
Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) had previously seen a 12.5% drop in the short interest and now that was taken back as the gain was about 12.8% in the new short interest report: 22,330,179 shares short as of June 28, versus 19,790,665 shares short as of June 14. P&G’s dividend is down to 3% now that shares have recovered.
Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) followed Altria with a lower short interest: down almost 6% to 9,807,269 shares short as of June 28, versus 10,405,705 shares short as of June 14. Reynolds has a yield of about 5.0% now that shares hit a new 52-week high.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) saw its short interest drop from the prior report disappear, and it gained even more than AT&T: -7% to 48,445,844 shares short as of June 28, versus 45,283,121 shares short as of June 14. Verizon’s dividend yield is currently much lower than AT&T’s at 4%.
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