Sprott Focus Trust, Inc. (NASDAQ:FUND) Short Interest Up 69.8% in May

Sprott Focus Trust, Inc. (NASDAQ:FUND) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 14,327 shares, a growth of 69.8% from the April 30th total of 8,440 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,946 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Sprott Focus Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FUND. Sprott Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sprott Focus Trust by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 15,450,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,112,000 after buying an additional 231,672 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Sprott Focus Trust by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 802,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,655,000 after acquiring an additional 106,805 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Sprott Focus Trust by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 525,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,564,000 after acquiring an additional 82,782 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Sprott Focus Trust by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 218,586 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Sprott Focus Trust by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 200,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,744,000 after acquiring an additional 26,058 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.63% of the company’s stock.

Sprott Focus Trust Stock Performance

Shares of FUND stock traded down $0.15 on Wednesday, reaching $10.25. The stock had a trading volume of 3,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,407. Sprott Focus Trust has a 1 year low of $7.34 and a 1 year high of $10.44. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.40.

Sprott Focus Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.1424 dividend. This is a positive change from Sprott Focus Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $0.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%.

Sprott Focus Trust Company Profile

Sprott Focus Trust, Inc is a closed‐end management investment company trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker FUND. Externally managed by Sprott Asset Management LP, the trust offers investors targeted exposure to publicly traded companies that generate revenue through precious metals royalty and streaming agreements. By focusing on this segment, the trust provides a specialized approach to gaining potential income and capital appreciation tied to gold, silver and other base metal production.

The investment strategy centers on assembling a diversified portfolio of royalty and streaming firms with long‐life assets, stable cash flow profiles and strong growth outlooks.