iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (NYSEARCA:EWU) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (NYSEARCA:EWU) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 9,432,179 shares, a growth of 291.5% from the May 14th total of 2,409,051 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,562,810 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days. Approximately 12.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF by 117.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,707,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,472,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,863 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF by 11.9% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,100,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,115,000 after purchasing an additional 437,277 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,977,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,963,000 after purchasing an additional 78,566 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,523,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,986,000 after purchasing an additional 253,162 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF by 12.3% during the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,439,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,580,000 after purchasing an additional 157,908 shares during the period. 58.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of EWU traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.16. 1,911,892 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,014,587. iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF has a 52 week low of $38.74 and a 52 week high of $48.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.42 and a beta of 0.59.

About iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF

The iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (EWU) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI United Kingdom index. The fund tracks a market cap-weighted index of British companies. It covers the top 85% of British companies by market cap. EWU was launched on Mar 12, 1996 and is managed by BlackRock.