First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FYT) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest fell 32.2% to 27,691 shares as of August 31, representing about 1.0% of shares outstanding and 2.3 days to cover.
• Institutional ownership increased, with Gateway Wealth Partners more than doubling its position and several other investment firms adding shares or initiating stakes.
• FYT shares declined 0.4% to $70.18, while the fund raised its quarterly dividend to $0.298, equal to an annualized $1.19 payout and a 1.7% yield.

First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FYT - ) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 27,691 shares, a drop of 32.2% from the August 15th total of 40,848 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 12,195 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund by 7.5% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,164 shares of the company's stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund during the first quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund by 102.8% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 24,628 shares of the company's stock worth $1,522,000 after purchasing an additional 12,487 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 60,279 shares of the company's stock worth $3,725,000 after purchasing an additional 4,268 shares during the period. Finally, Nwam LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,241,000.

First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund Stock Down 0.4%

FYT stock traded down $0.27 during trading on Thursday, hitting $70.18. 650 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,560. First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund has a 52 week low of $52.47 and a 52 week high of $73.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 0.97.

First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 25th were issued a $0.298 dividend. This is a boost from First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 25th. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%.

About First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund

The First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund (FYT) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the NASDAQ AlphaDEX Small Cap Value index. The fund tracks an index of securities pulled from the NASDAQ US 700 Small Cap Index that are rescreened and weighted based on a tiered process. FYT was launched on Apr 18, 2011 and is managed by First Trust.

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