First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEMS) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest in FEMS fell 60.2% to 50,737 shares as of August 31, representing 0.9% of shares outstanding and just 0.5 days of average trading volume.
• Several hedge funds and advisory firms recently initiated or increased positions in the ETF, including Fifth Third Bancorp, Geneos Wealth Management, MCF Advisors, Kestra Advisory Services, and Sankala Group.
• FEMS opened at $46.19, within its 52-week range of $40.94 to $49.49, while its quarterly dividend rose to $0.445 per share, implying an annualized yield of approximately 3.9%.

First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEMS - ) saw a significant decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 50,737 shares, a decline of 60.2% from the August 15th total of 127,536 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 109,348 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FEMS. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new stake in shares of First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund in the first quarter worth $41,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,066 shares of the exchange traded fund's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund during the 2nd quarter worth about $64,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund during the 4th quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, Sankala Group LLC bought a new position in shares of First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund in the 4th quarter valued at about $93,000.

First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FEMS opened at $46.19 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $256.35 million, a PE ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 0.51. First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund has a 52-week low of $40.94 and a 52-week high of $49.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.17.

First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 25th were given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is an increase from First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 25th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%.

About First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund

The First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (FEMS) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the NASDAQ AlphaDEX EM Small Cap index. The fund aims to outperform other index funds by selecting small-cap emerging markets securities using quantitative metrics. FEMS was launched on Feb 15, 2012 and is managed by First Trust.

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