First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 23,200 shares, a decrease of 26.8% from the March 15th total of 31,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 43,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.5 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Price Performance

NASDAQ:FEP traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,468. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund has a fifty-two week low of $33.02 and a fifty-two week high of $43.15. The firm has a market cap of $226.49 million, a P/E ratio of -62.39 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.41 and its 200-day moving average is $38.22.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 27th were issued a dividend of $0.1115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $0.45 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -240.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FEP. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 28,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,805 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 45,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,640,000 after buying an additional 2,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 76.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the period.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Company Profile

The First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (FEP) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the NASDAQ AlphaDEX Europe index. The fund tracks a tiered equal-weighted index of 200 companies selected from the S&P Europe BMI based on the S&P’s AlphaDex selection methodology. FEP was launched on Apr 18, 2011 and is managed by First Trust.