Short Sellers Lighten Up Bets Against Dividend Stocks

Short sellers appear to be increasing their bets against some of the key dividend stocks we track, judging by the October 15 settlement date for the short interest versus the September 28 settlement date. While some dividends are set to rise before the end of 2012, it appears that the notion of a dividend bubble seems to be forming in at least some of these and other high payout shares.

We tracked the big short interest changes in the following 10 big dividend stocks: 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), 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). What appears to be happening is that some investors seem to be betting that a dividend bubble is present in these shares.

Source: 24/7 Wall St.

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