First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) Stock Short Interest Climbs 187.4%

Key Points

• Short interest surged 187.4% to 177,042 shares as of September 30, representing 2.0% of outstanding shares and 3.2 days to cover based on average trading volume.
• FEP shares opened at $55.91, below their 50-day moving average of $58.98 and 200-day moving average of $58.15. The ETF has traded between $49.11 and $61.07 over the past year.
• The fund paid a quarterly dividend of $0.3254, down from $0.7986 previously, equating to an annualized dividend of $1.30 and a 2.3% yield.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP - ) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 177,042 shares, an increase of 187.4% from the September 15th total of 61,611 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 55,850 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired 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 First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund during the first quarter worth approximately $130,000. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new stake in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund during the first quarter worth approximately $144,000. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC boosted its position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 16.3% during the second 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 last quarter.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FEP opened at $55.91 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $58.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.15. The stock has a market cap of $492.01 million, a PE ratio of -84.71 and a beta of 0.90. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund has a one year low of $49.11 and a one year high of $61.07.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 24th were issued a $0.3254 dividend. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a negative change from First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund's previous quarterly dividend of $0.7986. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 24th. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund's payout ratio is presently -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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