Short Interest Has Jumped In These 5 Stocks

#3 Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

– Increase in short interest in September: 115%

– Hedge Funds With Long Positions (as of June 30): 20

– Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $239.75 Million

The two-for-one stock split that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) underwent at the start of last month doesn’t seem to have worked in favor of the company. Not only did the short interest in the personal care and specialty products manufacturer jumped by over 4.6 million shares to 3.3% of its float in the period between August 31 and September 15, but its stock also seems to have ended the bull run it witnessed in the last few years. The short interest inched up further and the stock had 8.74 million shares shorted at the end of September. Nevertheless, most analysts continue to remain optimistic on the stock citing the strong and consistent organic growth of the company. For its fiscal 2016 third quarter, analysts are expecting the company to report EPS of $0.47 on revenue of $883.2 million. For the same quarter of the previous year, Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) reported EPS of $0.45 on revenue of $861.8 million. Though the number of hedge funds covered by us that were long Church & Dwight Co. remained unchanged during the second quarter, the aggregate value of their holdings in the company declined by $48.6 million during that time.

#2 Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB)

– Increase in short interest in September: 136.6%

– Hedge Funds With Long Positions (as of June 30): 15

– Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $191.59 Million

Moving on, amid a 11.2% rise in Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB)’s stock during the first-half of September, the number of borrowed shares of the company in circulation rose to 27.87 million from 11.95 million. As the stock further went up in the following two weeks, the short interest increased by another 16% and there were 32.50 million shares on short sale at the end of the month. The rally in Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB)’s stock was fuelled by the company’s announcement, on September 6, that it has agreed to acquire Spectra Energy for $28 billion in an all-stock deal. Following this announcement, on September 8, analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded Enbridge’s stock to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ and also raised their price target on it to $48 from $43. However, at the same time, they downgraded Spectra Energy’s stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’. At the end of last month, Enbridge revealed that it has agreed to sell its 994-mile South East Saskatchewan pipeline network to Tundra Energy Marketing for approximately $818 million. The ownership of Enbridge among hedge funds tracked by us inched down by one during the second quarter and he aggregate value of their holdings in it fell by $19 million.

#1 Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG)

– Increase in short interest in September: 444.7%

– Hedge Funds With Long Positions (as of June 30): 56

– Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $5.54 Billion

Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) saw the largest increase in short interest last month as the number of shorted sales surged by more than fourfold to 291.39 million shares at the end of September. Since the start of second-half of 2016, Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG)’s stock has gained over 6%, although lately it has been losing ground and is 5% in the red since the beginning of October. Nevertheless, the stock still sports a respectable forward yield of 3.17% currently. In the last two years, the sales of P&G have fallen drastically, partially due to a strong dollar. To overcome this, the company has been actively working towards transforming its portfolio by selling brands that are not market leaders in their respective segments. Additionally, in the past few quarters, Procter & Gamble has also taken several cost cutting measures to improve its operating margins. These changes haven’t gone unnoticed among analysts, some of whom have upped their rating on it in the past few months. The number of funds tracked by us that were long Procter & Gamble declined by three during the second quarter, however, the aggregate value of their holdings in it rose by $364 million during that time.

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