Short Interest in First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (NASDAQ:MDIV) Declines By 39.4%

Key Points

• Short interest fell 39.4% to 58,044 shares as of March 31, equal to about 0.2% of shares outstanding and a short-interest ratio of 0.6 days.
• The fund raised its monthly dividend to $0.134 from $0.08 (paid March 31), implying an annualized yield of roughly 9.8%.
• Several institutions increased or initiated stakes in Q4 — including Intrua Financial, Comerica Bank, Total Clarity Wealth Management and D.A. Davidson — signaling recent institutional buying interest.

First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (NASDAQ:MDIV - ) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 58,044 shares, a decline of 39.4% from the March 15th total of 95,710 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 99,069 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intrua Financial LLC grew its stake in First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 34,989 shares of the company's stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 2,872 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 12,436 shares of the company's stock valued at $195,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new position in First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. now owns 115,486 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,815,000 after acquiring an additional 6,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Freedom Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Freedom Financial Partners LLC now owns 35,666 shares of the company's stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares in the last quarter.

First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund Price Performance

NASDAQ MDIV opened at $16.43 on Monday. The company's 50 day moving average is $16.43 and its 200-day moving average is $16.05. First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund has a 12-month low of $14.99 and a 12-month high of $16.81. The firm has a market cap of $401.71 million, a P/E ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 0.57.

First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 26th were paid a dividend of $0.134 per share. This is an increase from First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund's previous monthly dividend of $0.08. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 26th.

About First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund

The Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (MDIV) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in target outcome asset allocation. The fund tracks an index of equal-weighted US-listed securities, comprised of dividend-paying equities, REITs, preferred securities, MLPs, and a high-yield bond ETF. MDIV was launched on Aug 14, 2012 and is managed by First Trust.

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