Short Interest in First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXU) Drops By 14.9%

First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXU) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 68,968 shares, a decline of 14.9% from the February 26th total of 81,004 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 573,726 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.1 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FXU. Park Square Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 1,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 59,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,701,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund by 8.3% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund by 6.1% during the third quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter.

First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund Stock Performance

Shares of NYSEARCA FXU opened at $49.85 on Thursday. First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund has a 1 year low of $36.88 and a 1 year high of $51.08. The firm has a market cap of $867.39 million, a P/E ratio of 17.41 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $48.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.89.

First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 26th were paid a dividend of $0.229 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 26th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%.

About First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund

First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of an equity index called the StrataQuant Utilities Index (the Index). The Index is an enhanced index created and administered by the AMEX, which employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index. The AMEX constructs the Index by ranking the stocks, which are members of the Russell 1000 Index on growth factors, including 3, 6 and 12-month price appreciation, sales to price and one-year sales growth, and separately on value factors, including book value to price, cash flow to price and return on assets.