Short Interest in First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FPA) Increases By 774.1%

Key Points

• Short interest surged by 774.1% in April to 29,887 shares (about 1.2% of shares outstanding), with a days-to-cover ratio of 0.2 based on average daily volume.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes—Waverton, Synergy, Susquehanna and Rathbones added shares—and Jane Street opened a new position valued at roughly $850,000.
• FPA traded up 2.2% to $49.48, has a market cap of $123.7M and a P/E of 10.39, and recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.4187 (annualized $1.67, yield ~3.4%).

First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FPA - ) was the target of a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 29,887 shares, an increase of 774.1% from the March 31st total of 3,419 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 184,855 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Institutional Trading of First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 181,590 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,782,000 after purchasing an additional 12,090 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 79,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,850,000 after purchasing an additional 39,881 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP grew its holdings in First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 46,170 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 4,915 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC grew its holdings in First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 36,869 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund during the 2nd quarter valued at about $850,000.

First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund Stock Up 2.2%

FPA stock traded up $1.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $49.48. The company had a trading volume of 12,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,643. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.76. First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund has a 12-month low of $29.36 and a 12-month high of $50.67. The company has a market capitalization of $123.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.98.

First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 26th were issued a $0.4187 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 26th. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%.

First Trust Asia Pacific ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund Company Profile

The First Trust Asia Pacific Ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund (FPA) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in total market equity. The fund selects and weights 100 stocks from the S&P Asia Pacific Ex-Japan BMI Index based on their growth and value factors. FPA was launched on Apr 18, 2011 and is managed by First Trust.

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.