First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXZ) Short Interest Down 32.0% in March

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXZ) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 36,050 shares, a decline of 32.0% from the February 26th total of 53,047 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 39,817 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its holdings in First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 13,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $858,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 12,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC increased its stake in First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 10.3% in the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period.

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund Stock Performance

Shares of FXZ traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $73.69. 11,540 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 54,052. The stock has a market cap of $291.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.42. First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund has a 1 year low of $46.13 and a 1 year high of $80.01.

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.2441 per share. This represents a $0.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 26th.

About First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund

The First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (FXZ) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the StrataQuant Materials index. The fund tracks a tiered, equal-weighted index of large- and mid-cap basic materials firms in the US. Holdings are selected and weighted based on growth and value metrics. FXZ was launched on May 8, 2007 and is managed by First Trust.