Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) continue to be major target of short sellers among the large financial companies.
Of all companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Bank of America has drawn the most short interest since it announced it was going to pay back TARP funds.
The last figures available as of the two weeks ending on December 15, revealed that 165 million shares were shorted during that period of time for Bank of America. An increase of a huge 218 percent.
The giant bank sold $19.3 billion in new stock to raise capital to pay back the Troubled Asset Relief Program funds. That increased the share float in the company by 1.28 billion as of December 9, when they took the action. As of the end of the third quarter that increased the share float by about 15 percent for Bank of America, which stood at 8.63 billion at that time.
Also drawing short interest was Bank of New York Mellon, which drew interest in the last two weeks of November, with a 18 percent increase. That continued over to the first two weeks of December where short interest grew by 23 percent.
Another major bank, Citigroup, was another key huge financial company which attracted short sellers during the first half of December. During that period of time there was a 30 percent surge in short seller interest, and the 65 million increase in shorting its shares was the third largest on the New York Stock exchange during that period of time. Citigroup also had been a recipient of short interest during the second half of November, increasing by 10.86 percent during that time.
