Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund Inc. (NYSE:EMD) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 69.1% in April to 157,229 shares (about 0.5% of shares outstanding), with a short-interest ratio of 0.7 days based on average daily volume.
• Major institutions raised positions—Morgan Stanley holds ~8.97 million shares after a recent increase—and institutional investors own about 33.05% of the fund.
• The fund declared a monthly dividend of $0.095 per share (annualized yield ~10.5%), payable May 29 with the record/ex-dividend date listed as May 21.

Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund Inc. (NYSE:EMD - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 157,229 shares, a growth of 69.1% from the March 31st total of 92,990 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 225,958 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,968,464 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,335,000 after acquiring an additional 354,205 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 863,751 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,182,000 after acquiring an additional 19,449 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 623,598 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,435,000 after acquiring an additional 105,855 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund by 38.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 491,657 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,074,000 after acquiring an additional 135,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its stake in Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 448,049 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,763,000 after acquiring an additional 63,113 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.05% of the company's stock.

Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of EMD stock traded up $0.08 on Monday, reaching $10.82. 128,040 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 242,418. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.62. Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund has a 1 year low of $9.27 and a 1 year high of $11.30.

Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.095 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 10.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st.

About Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund

Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund Inc NYSE: EMD is a closed-end management investment company launched in December 2004 and managed by Western Asset Management Company, a global fixed-income specialist. The fund seeks to provide a high level of current income by investing primarily in debt securities issued by sovereign, quasi-sovereign and corporate issuers in emerging markets. Its diversified approach combines top-down macroeconomic analysis with bottom-up credit research to identify attractive risk-adjusted opportunities across developing economies.

EMD’s portfolio spans a wide range of instruments, including sovereign government bonds, supranational obligations, corporate credits and other fixed-income securities.

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