Short Interest in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) Declines By 56.8%

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 4,538,520 shares, a drop of 56.8% from the June 30th total of 10,509,821 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,646,277 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF stock traded down $0.26 on Wednesday, reaching $30.10. 3,437,836 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,320,320. The company has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.53. iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF has a one year low of $30.10 and a one year high of $32.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.78 and a 200 day moving average of $31.10.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.1417 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. This is an increase from iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF’s previous monthly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st.

Institutional Trading of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFF. Keynote Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 160.9% in the 4th quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 45,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 28,132 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF during the fourth quarter worth about $9,987,000. Tran Capital Management L.P. increased its position in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 1,144.7% during the fourth quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P. now owns 88,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,742,000 after buying an additional 81,448 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 32.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 132,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,019,000 after buying an additional 32,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 12,157.0% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 904,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,997,000 after buying an additional 896,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

About iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

iShares U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results, which correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (the Underlying Index). The Underlying Index measures the performance of a select group of preferred stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NYSE Arca, Inc (NYSE Arca), NYSE Amex, NASDAQ Global Select Market, NASDAQ Select Market or NASDAQ Capital Market. The Underlying Index includes preferred stocks with a market capitalization over $100 million, which meet minimum price, liquidity, trading volume, maturity and other requirements determined by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of The McGraw Hill Companies (S&P).