First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Up 78.3% in September

Key Points

• Short interest surged 78.3% to 61,611 shares as of September 15, up from 34,556 shares at the end of August. Short interest represents 0.7% of shares outstanding, with a days-to-cover ratio of 5.2.
• FEP shares fell to $56.89, below their 50-day moving average of $59.35 but above the 12-month low of $49.11; trading volume was significantly above average.
• The fund reduced its quarterly dividend to $0.3254 per share from $0.7986, implying annualized dividends of $1.30 and a 2.3% yield.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP - ) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 61,611 shares, an increase of 78.3% from the August 31st total of 34,556 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,766 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund during the first quarter worth approximately $100,000. Parallel Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund in the first quarter worth $130,000. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund in the first quarter worth about $144,000. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the company's stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Price Performance

NASDAQ:FEP traded down $0.82 on Tuesday, reaching $56.89. The stock had a trading volume of 336,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,700. The firm's fifty day moving average is $59.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.02. The company has a market cap of $509.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -86.20 and a beta of 0.90. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund has a 12-month low of $49.11 and a 12-month high of $61.07.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.3254 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 24th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a drop from First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund's previous quarterly dividend of $0.7986. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund's dividend payout ratio is currently -263.64%.

About First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund

The First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (FEP) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the NASDAQ AlphaDEX Europe index. The fund tracks a tiered equal-weighted index of 200 companies selected from the S&P Europe BMI based on the S&P's AlphaDex selection methodology. FEP was launched on Apr 18, 2011 and is managed by First Trust.

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