8 Utility Dividend Stocks With The Highest Float Short Ratio

Submitted by Dividend Yield as part of our contributors program.

Most sold short utility dividend stocks originally published at “long-term-investments.blogspot.com“. Today I like to look at the most shorted dividend stocks from the utility sector. I observed only stocks with a market capitalization over USD 300 million and a float short ratio over 5 percent.

Only eight companies have a capital stake with more than 5 percent of short sellers. Utilities are very unpopular in terms of borrowing shares and selling them with hope to cause a stock crash.

I often told that one of the characteristics of a utility stock is the stability. But the price you pay is the low growth and high debt. The capital intensive business model doesn’t allow it to expand the balance sheet without capital increases.



Here are the utilities with the highest float short ratio:

Ormat Technologies (ORA) has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion. The company employs 1,252 people, generates revenue of $514.41 million and has a net income of $-203.49 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $189.56 million. The EBITDA margin is 36.85 percent (the operating margin is -30.15 percent and the net profit margin -39.56 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 49.23 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 148.31 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of -25.90 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $-4.76. Last fiscal year, the company paid $0.08 in the form of dividends to shareholders. ORA has a float short ratio of 11.58 percent.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is not calculable, the P/S ratio is 2.00 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.48. The dividend yield amounts to 0.71 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 1.16.

Laclede Group (LG) has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion. The company employs 1,641 people, generates revenue of $1.125 billion and has a net income of $62.64 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $151.34 million. The EBITDA margin is 13.45 percent (the operating margin is 9.83 percent and the net profit margin 5.57 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 21.51 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 67.24 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 10.60 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $2.82. Last fiscal year, the company paid $1.66 in the form of dividends to shareholders. LG has a float short ratio of 8.45 percent.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 16.86, the P/S ratio is 1.31 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.76. The dividend yield amounts to 3.61 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.07.

Hawaiian Electric Industries (HE) has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion. The company employs 3,870 people, generates revenue of $3.375 billion and has a net income of $140.55 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $442.54 million. The EBITDA margin is 13.11 percent (the operating margin is 8.42 percent and the net profit margin 4.16 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 16.77 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 106.82 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 8.88 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $1.37. Last fiscal year, the company paid $1.24 in the form of dividends to shareholders. HE has a float short ratio of 6.71 percent.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 18.23, the P/S ratio is 0.73 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.53. The dividend yield amounts to 4.99 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.48.

Take a closer look at the full list of the most shorted utility dividend stocks. The average P/E ratio amounts to 20.07 and forward P/E ratio is 17.47. The dividend yield has a value of 3.45 percent. Price to book ratio is 1.87 and price to sales ratio 1.92. The operating margin amounts to 10.49 percent and the beta ratio is 0.42. Stocks from the list have an average debt to equity ratio of 1.30.

Selected Articles:
· 20 Cheapest Utility Dividend Stocks
· Best Utility Dividend Stock Picks For 2013
· 20 Biggest Dividend Payers From The Utility Sector
· The Best Yielding Large Cap Utility Stocks

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