First Trust Dividend Strength ETF (NASDAQ:FTDS) Stock Short Interest Falls 73.5%

First Trust Dividend Strength ETF (NASDAQ:FTDS) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,653 shares, a drop of 73.5% from the August 31st total of 10,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,584 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of First Trust Dividend Strength ETF during the second quarter valued at approximately $99,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of First Trust Dividend Strength ETF by 8.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new position in First Trust Dividend Strength ETF during the 1st quarter worth about $209,000.

First Trust Dividend Strength ETF Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of FTDS stock opened at $62.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $37.71 million, a P/E ratio of 14.53 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.26. First Trust Dividend Strength ETF has a 52 week low of $53.43 and a 52 week high of $67.24.

First Trust Dividend Strength ETF Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th will be issued a $0.3094 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 24th. This is a positive change from First Trust Dividend Strength ETF’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.1928.

About First Trust Dividend Strength ETF

The First Trust Dividend Strength ETF (FTDS) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the The Dividend Strength index. The fund tracks an index of approximately 50 US stocks or REITs considered to be well-capitalized and have a history of increasing their dividends. Holdings are selected based on fundamental criteria and equally-weighted within the portfolio. FTDS was launched on Dec 6, 2006 and is managed by First Trust.