Short Interest in iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:EWJ) Grows By 184.8%

iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:EWJ) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 12,555,035 shares, an increase of 184.8% from the May 14th total of 4,408,490 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 5,282,747 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

iShares MSCI Japan ETF Price Performance

Shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF stock traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $92.68. The company had a trading volume of 2,599,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,825,789. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.91. The stock has a market cap of $21.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63 and a beta of 0.68. iShares MSCI Japan ETF has a 1-year low of $71.09 and a 1-year high of $94.28.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iShares MSCI Japan ETF

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rathbones Group PLC grew its stake in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 1.7% in the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 193,876 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $16,371,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153 shares during the last quarter. DV Trading LLC grew its stake in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 119.4% in the first quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 37,500 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $3,166,000 after acquiring an additional 20,406 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 49.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 20,720 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $1,750,000 after buying an additional 6,870 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF during the first quarter worth $1,666,000. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 2.3% during the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 1,428,598 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $120,631,000 after buying an additional 31,547 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.60% of the company’s stock.

About iShares MSCI Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Japan ETF (the fund), formerly Ishares Msci Japan Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Japanese market, as measured by the MSCI Japan Index (the Index). The Index consists of stocks traded primarily on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index.