First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund (NASDAQ:QABA) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest in QABA surged 126.1% to 17,162 shares as of July 31, representing 1.3% of shares outstanding and 1.6 days of average trading volume.
• Institutional activity was mixed but generally positive, with Bank of America increasing its stake by 27.1%, Cetera Investment Advisers raising its position by 86.3%, and several firms initiating new positions.
• QABA opened at $70.31, near its 52-week high of $70.66, while the fund raised its quarterly dividend to $0.3497 per share, equivalent to an annualized yield of about 2.0%.

First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund (NASDAQ:QABA - ) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 17,162 shares, a growth of 126.1% from the July 15th total of 7,589 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 11,010 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Institutional Trading of First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund by 86.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 11,552 shares of the company's stock worth $626,000 after acquiring an additional 5,352 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in shares of First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,176,000. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund during the 2nd quarter valued at about $364,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund by 27.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 139,575 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,565,000 after purchasing an additional 29,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its stake in First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund by 0.4% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 164,070 shares of the company's stock worth $9,213,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the period.

First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QABA opened at $70.31 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $67.46 and its 200-day moving average is $62.99. First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund has a 52 week low of $51.90 and a 52 week high of $70.66. The firm has a market cap of $94.93 million, a P/E ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 0.75.

First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 25th were paid a dividend of $0.3497 per share. This is a boost from First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 25th.

About First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund

The First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund (QABA) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the NASDAQ OMX ABA Community Bank index. The fund tracks an index of NASDAQ-listed banks and thrifts, excluding the 50 largest. QABA was launched on Jun 29, 2009 and is managed by First Trust.

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