Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund Inc. (NYSE:PFO) Short Interest Up 66.6% in March

Key Points

• Short interest in Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund (NYSE:PFO) rose by 66.6% in March to 11,848 shares as of March 13, equal to about 0.1% of shares short and a days-to-cover of 0.3 days.
• The fund declared a monthly dividend of $0.0546 per share, payable April 30 to holders of record April 23, implying a roughly 7.4% yield.
• Multiple institutions (including Guggenheim, AlphaCore, Raymond James and NewEdge) added or initiated positions recently, leaving institutional ownership at 12.90%.

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund Inc. (NYSE:PFO - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 11,848 shares, a growth of 66.6% from the February 26th total of 7,112 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 37,159 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund in the second quarter worth $49,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund in the fourth quarter valued at $127,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund during the fourth quarter valued at about $232,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund by 9.5% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,081 shares of the company's stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 12.90% of the company's stock.

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund stock traded down $0.14 on Friday, hitting $8.87. 69,147 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,592. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.54. Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund has a one year low of $8.01 and a one year high of $9.90.

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.0546 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 23rd.

About Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Fund NYSE: PFO is a closed-end management investment company designed to provide investors with a high level of current income. The fund focuses its portfolio primarily on preferred and participating securities, including traditional preferred shares, convertible preferred instruments, trust preferred issues and other hybrid securities issued by corporations and financial institutions.

Through broad diversification across industry sectors and geographies, PFO aims to manage credit and interest-rate risk while pursuing attractive yield opportunities.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.