Least shorted S&P 500 stocks in August

Alphabet (GOOG), Walmart (WMT) and L3Harris Technologies (LHX) took the top spots as the least shorted S&P 500 (SP500) stocks in August.

As of Aug 30, 0.33% of Alphabet’s Class C (GOOG) shares were sold short. The American tech company saw a marginal increase in short share volume during the month, with traders selling 41.11M shares of GOOG short. Class A shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) had short interest of 0.59% last month.

Walmart (WMT) was next, with 0.53% of its shares sold short as of August-end. The retailer, which has rallied around 52% so far this year, saw a 14% rise in short shares volume in the month, at 42.74M compared to the previous total of 37.36M at July end.

L3Harris Technologies (LHX) took the third spot, with 0.54% of its float sold short as of Aug 30. The defense contractor had a short interest volume of 1.03M shares, down from 1.25M at July-end.

These were the top 20 least shorted S&P 500 stocks as a percentage of float, as of August:

• Alphabet Inc C (GOOG) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.33%
• Walmart (WMT) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.53%
• L3Harris Technologies (LHX) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.54%
• Alphabet Inc A (GOOGL) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.59%
• Philip Morris International (PM) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.66%
• Becton Dickinson & Co (BDX) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.69%
• Ecolab (ECL) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.72%
• Mastercard Inc A (MA) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.72%
• Fortive Corp (FTV) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.74%
• Eli Lilly & Co (LLY) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.74%
• Abbott Laboratories (ABT) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.74%
• Willis Towers Watson (WTW) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.74%
• Nasdaq (NDAQ) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.74%
• Boston Scientific (BSX) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.75%
• Waste Management (WM) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.77%
• Elevance Health (ELV) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.77%
• Arista Networks (ANET) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.79%
• Allstate Corp (ALL) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.79%
• Union Pacific (UNP) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.80%
• Amphenol (APH) – Short interest as a % of float: 0.83%

More on S&P 500 sector short interest:

• Short sellers raise bets against industrial sector in August
• Short sellers boost bets against energy stocks as prices fall
• Most and least shorted S&P 500 materials stocks in August
• Charter Communications most shorted S&P 500 communications stock in August; Alphabet least shorted