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13 Highly Shorted Healthcare Dividend Stocks

Healthcare dividend stocks with the highest float short ratio originally published at "long-term-investments.blogspot.com". Selling a stock short is a popular method by investors to make a capital gain in a falling market. If investors believe that the stock price should fall, they borrow shares of the company and sell them on the market in order to hope that the stock price falls much more and that he can buy back the borrowed shares for a cheaper price.

Activists often sell stocks short. They try to scary other investors. Today I like to show you which of the healthcare stocks have the highest float short ratio. The ratio shows you how many shares have been sold short. It’s ever interesting to see which companies have some problems and investors like to speculate on a falling stock price. The higher the ratio is, the bigger the problems of the company.

These are my criteria:
- Positive Dividend Yield
- Healthcare Sector Relationship
- Float Short Ratio over 5 percent

Thirteen healthcare dividend stocks have fulfilled these criteria. Eight of them have a current buy or better rating.

Here are my favorite stocks:
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Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion. The company employs 6,200 people, generates revenue of $4.072 billion and has a net income of $477.19 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $735.83 million. The EBITDA margin is 18.07 percent (the operating margin is 16.24 percent and the net profit margin 11.72 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 28.62 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 115.89 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 97.29 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $4.28. Last fiscal year, the company paid $1.20 in the form of dividends to shareholders. The float short ratio from HLF amounts to 33.92 percent.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 10.89, the P/S ratio is 1.18 and the P/B ratio is finally 11.86. The dividend yield amounts to 2.57 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 1.77.


Long-Term Stock Price Chart Of Herbalife (HLF)
Long-Term Dividend Payment History of Herbalife (HLF)
Long-Term Dividend Yield History of Herbalife (HLF)

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) has a market capitalization of $9.77 billion. The company employs 41,000 people, generates revenue of $7.382 billion and has a net income of $666.50 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $1.596 billion. The EBITDA margin is 21.63 percent (the operating margin is 16.27 percent and the net profit margin 9.03 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 36.23 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 80.80 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 15.98 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $3.67. Last fiscal year, the company paid $0.81 in the form of dividends to shareholders. The float short ratio from DGX amounts to 9.15 percent.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 16.86, the P/S ratio is 1.32 and the P/B ratio is finally 2.35. The dividend yield amounts to 1.94 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.61.


Long-Term Stock Price Chart Of Quest Diagnostics (DGX)
Long-Term Dividend Payment History of Quest Diagnostics (DGX)
Long-Term Dividend Yield History of Quest Diagnostics (DGX)

DENTSPLY (NASDAQ:XRAY) has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion. The company employs 11,900 people, generates revenue of $2.928 billion and has a net income of $321.76 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $581.75 million. The EBITDA margin is 19.87 percent (the operating margin is 13.04 percent and the net profit margin 10.99 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 30.59 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 68.86 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 15.49 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $2.31. Last fiscal year, the company paid $0.22 in the form of dividends to shareholders. The float short ratio from XRAY amounts to 5.36 percent.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 18.10, the P/S ratio is 2.04 and the P/B ratio is finally 2.69. The dividend yield amounts to 0.60 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 1.15.


Long-Term Stock Price Chart Of DENTSPLY (XRAY)
Long-Term Dividend Payment History of DENTSPLY (XRAY)
Long-Term Dividend Yield History of DENTSPLY (XRAY)

Take a closer look at the full list of most shorted healthcare dividend stocks. The average P/E ratio amounts to 17.50 and forward P/E ratio is 14.39. The dividend yield has a value of 2.48 percent. Price to book ratio is 4.51 and price to sales ratio 2.40. The operating margin amounts to 22.02 percent and the beta ratio is 0.87. Stocks from the list have an average debt to equity ratio of 0.65.

Here is the full table with some fundamentals (TTM):

Most Shorted Healthcare Dividend Stocks (Click to enlarge)

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Related stock ticker symbols:
QCOR, HLF, PETS, VIVO, PDLI, RMD, CHE, DGX, MR, ALC, IVC, XRAY, TFX

Selected Articles:

*I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I receive no compensation to write about any specific stock, sector or theme.