We recently released a list 25 cheap dividend stocks are targets for short sellers. In this article, we will look at Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M) position with other cheap dividend stocks.
Short sellers (investors who profit from falling stock prices) surged in 2025. Their paper profits were $159 million due to six deals as escalating trade tensions triggered a drop of more than 10% in the U.S. stock market. The sharp decline has been the steepest market decline since 2022 after President Donald Trump announced widespread global tariffs. According to S3 Partners LLC, the most profitable short-term position during this period was targeting spy ETFs that track the S&P index. Traders betting on the fund have exceeded $6.1 billion in paper earnings so far this month, according to S3's April 8 report.
Short sellers can profit from huge intraday market volatility that drain trillions of dollars in value, although their actual gains depend on when they close their positions. S3 data showed that new $46 billion in new short bets were added in April, which increased the risk that these bearish positions could exacerbate the market’s next major move, especially if the current downturn reverses and pushes the major index higher. Ihor Dusaniwsky, Managing Director of S3 Predictive Analytics, posted the following comments:
“In general, short-term trade is a profitable trade up and down the market during this correction period. 81% of each short-term trade is profitable, and 97% of the short-term trade is profitable trade.”
Another report from the S&P Dow Jones Index noted that the average short rate of U.S. stocks rose to 87 basis points in the past month. The biggest jump was observed in the automotive industry, which climbed 11 basis points, followed by 10 basis points in the business and professional services sectors, while the food and beverage sector base rose by 9 basis points.
Although dividend payment stocks are generally more stable than growth stocks, they have remained short-selling throughout history. In a 1998 study Who is trading outside the world around the day?Jennifer Lynch Koski and John T. They suggest that safe dealers may shorten the stock, which still includes dividends and then buy back after the current date if they want the stock to fall more than the dividend amount.
Similarly, in their research papers Tax-induced transactionsJosef Lakonishok and Theo Vermaelen observed unusual sales, soon after. They found that such activity is often more pronounced in stocks that offer higher dividend yields. Their findings suggest that short sellers aim to minimize typical price declines that often follow external dates.
mandritoiu / shutterstock.com
In this article, we screened its dividend stocks using data from Yahoo Finance recorded on April 15, which sold for more than 3%. From this group, we have selected stocks above dividend yield from this group starting April 28, as of April 28. Companies that offer high dividend yields often attract the attention of short sellers. These stocks are ranked in their short percentage ascending order.
At Insider Monkey, we are addicted to hedge funds. Why are we interested in stocks that hedge funds to accumulate? The reason is simple: Our research shows that we can beat the market by mimicking the top stocks of the best hedge funds. Our strategy for quarterly newsletters selects 14 small and large stocks every quarter, returning 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (See more details here).
Short percentage of floating point as of April 15: 7.78%
As of April 28: 6.35% dividend yield
Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M) is a U.S. holding company based in New York-based department stores. In March, the company released its annual sales and profit outlook, which failed to meet Wall Street expectations, reflecting a broader model of U.S. retailers who struggled with softer consumer spending and new pressures on trade restrictions. Macy's, which has gained a large share of private label products from China, may also face other challenges as President Donald Trump's newly announced tariffs could further squeeze U.S. household budgets. M has fallen by more than 30% since the beginning of 2025 and is one of the dividend shares targeted by short sellers.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, Macy's (NYSE:M) reported revenue of $7.77 billion, down 4.3%, compared with the same period last year. Despite the decline, the figure still surpassed analysts' forecast of $12.5 million. As the first year of its bold new chapter strategy, the company noted that it invested in customer experience with a key driver of its strongest comparable sales performance in nearly three years. The top 50 locations achieved sales growth for four consecutive quarters, while sales of their luxury banners, Bloomingdale and Bluemercury grew faster.
Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M) also reported healthy cash positions, attracting income-focused investors. The company ended the year with $1.3 billion in cash, with annual operating cash flow totaling $1.3 billion and free cash flow reached $679 million. In February, Macy's increased its quarterly dividend by 5% to $0.1824 per share, its fourth consecutive year of dividend growth. As of April 28, the stock's dividend yield was 6.35%.
Overall, m Ranked 13th On the list of dividend stocks that our short sellers target. Although we acknowledge the potential of M as an investment, our belief lies in the belief that certain undervalued dividend stocks have greater hope and can provide higher returns in a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than M, but whose earnings are traded 10 times a year and grows in double-digit earnings every year, please check out our report on our Dirt cheap dividend stocks.
Read the next article: Buy 20 Best AI Stocks Now and According to the billionaire, there are now 30 best stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published in Inside monkey.