Short Interest in First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEMS) Expands By 217.5%

Key Points

• Short interest in FEMS surged 217.5% in June, rising to 5,835 shares from 1,838 shares as of June 15. Even so, only 0.1% of shares are currently shorted, with a short-interest ratio of 0.2 days.
• Institutional investors have been adding positions, including new stakes from Crusonia Wealth Advisors, Flow Traders U.S., and Citadel Advisors. Other firms also increased holdings, such as VestGen Advisors and Private Advisor Group.
• The fund raised its quarterly dividend to $0.445 per share from $0.30, which annualizes to $1.78 and implies a 3.9% yield. Shares recently traded at $45.30, near the middle of their 1-year range.

First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEMS - ) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 5,835 shares, a growth of 217.5% from the June 15th total of 1,838 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 29,462 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crusonia Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,481,000. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new stake in First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,427,000. VestGen Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 71,601 shares of the exchange traded fund's stock valued at $3,014,000 after purchasing an additional 28,091 shares in the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund in the third quarter valued at $562,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 121,988 shares of the exchange traded fund's stock worth $5,135,000 after buying an additional 10,472 shares during the period.

First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FEMS traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $45.30. The company had a trading volume of 2,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,318. First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund has a 1-year low of $39.91 and a 1-year high of $49.49. The firm has a market cap of $251.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.90.

First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund Increases Dividend

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

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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