First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,926 shares, a growth of 60.3% from the March 31st total of 6,193 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 26,241 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund during the fourth quarter worth about $38,048,000. Citadel Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,366,000. &PARTNERS boosted its holdings in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 398.2% in the 4th quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 72,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,907,000 after buying an additional 58,096 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 508,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,323,000 after purchasing an additional 41,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 125.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 71,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,400,000 after acquiring an additional 39,606 shares during the period.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Price Performance

FEP stock traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $57.57. 9,587 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,188. The firm has a market cap of $509.49 million, a P/E ratio of -87.23 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.39. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund has a 1-year low of $42.44 and a 1-year high of $59.39.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 26th were given a dividend of $0.0762 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 26th. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -265.15%.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Company Profile

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.