First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest in the First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) decreased by 32.2% from July to August, with a total of 20,800 shares reported as of August 15th.
• Institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in the fund, with Osaic Holdings Inc. and MML Investors Services LLC raising their stakes by 33.2% and 41.6%, respectively, during the second quarter.
• The fund declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9551, a substantial increase from its previous dividend of $0.11, representing an annualized dividend yield of 7.7%.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totaling 20,800 shares, a decline of 32.2% from the July 31st total of 30,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 30,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days. Based on an average daily volume of 30,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Institutional Trading of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FEP. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund during the first quarter worth $41,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund in the second quarter valued at about $51,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 199.0% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,818 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 48.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Price Performance

NASDAQ:FEP traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $50.56. 20,155 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,455. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -76.61 and a beta of 1.09. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund has a 52-week low of $33.02 and a 52-week high of $51.33. The company's 50 day moving average price is $49.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.41.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 26th were given a dividend of $0.9551 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $3.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. This is a boost from First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund's payout ratio is presently -246.97%.

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.