Short Interest in ProShares UltraPro QQQ (NASDAQ:TQQQ) Rises By 48.4%

Key Points

• Short interest in ProShares UltraPro QQQ rose 48.4% in January to 19,120,104 shares, equal to about 3.4% of shares outstanding and a short-interest ratio of 0.2 days.
• Several institutional investors materially increased positions in QQQQ during Q4, notably Howard Capital Management (+83.6% to 8,465,262 shares) and IMC Chicago (+9,296.8% to 1,168,112 shares).
• TQQQ is a 3x leveraged ETF tracking the NASDAQ-100 (300% daily exposure) and recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.0855 ($0.34 annualized, ~0.6% yield).

ProShares UltraPro QQQ (NASDAQ:TQQQ - ) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 19,120,104 shares, a growth of 48.4% from the December 31st total of 12,880,352 shares. Approximately 3.4% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 83,148,124 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.2 days. Based on an average daily volume of 83,148,124 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.2 days. Approximately 3.4% of the company's stock are short sold.

ProShares UltraPro QQQ Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of TQQQ stock opened at $54.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.25 and a beta of 3.46. ProShares UltraPro QQQ has a 1-year low of $17.50 and a 1-year high of $60.69. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $54.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.99.

ProShares UltraPro QQQ Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 24th were paid a dividend of $0.0855 per share. This is a boost from ProShares UltraPro QQQ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 24th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%.

Institutional Trading of ProShares UltraPro QQQ

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in ProShares UltraPro QQQ by 83.6% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,465,262 shares of the exchange traded fund's stock valued at $446,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,855,510 shares in the last quarter. Oriental Harbor Investment Master Fund boosted its stake in shares of ProShares UltraPro QQQ by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Oriental Harbor Investment Master Fund now owns 2,401,640 shares of the exchange traded fund's stock valued at $126,614,000 after buying an additional 1,200,820 shares during the period. PPSC Investment Service Corp boosted its stake in shares of ProShares UltraPro QQQ by 116.1% during the 4th quarter. PPSC Investment Service Corp now owns 1,248,785 shares of the exchange traded fund's stock valued at $65,836,000 after buying an additional 671,023 shares during the period. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ProShares UltraPro QQQ by 77.7% during the 4th quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC now owns 1,213,489 shares of the exchange traded fund's stock valued at $63,975,000 after acquiring an additional 530,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IMC Chicago LLC increased its stake in shares of ProShares UltraPro QQQ by 9,296.8% in the second quarter. IMC Chicago LLC now owns 1,168,112 shares of the exchange traded fund's stock worth $96,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155,681 shares during the last quarter.

About ProShares UltraPro QQQ

Proshares UltraPro QQQ ETF (the Fund) seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses that correspond to triple (300%) the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 Index (the Index). The Fund invests in equity securities, derivatives, such as futures contracts, swap agreements, and money market instruments. ProShare Advisors LLC (ProShare Advisors) provides the investment advisory and management services for the Fund.

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.