Short Interest in iShares MBS ETF (NASDAQ:MBB) Drops By 48.6%

iShares MBS ETF (NASDAQ:MBB) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,636,658 shares, a decrease of 48.6% from the February 26th total of 3,184,394 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,868,455 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days.

iShares MBS ETF Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of MBB stock traded up $0.08 on Friday, hitting $94.12. 2,366,280 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,020,410. iShares MBS ETF has a 52 week low of $90.84 and a 52 week high of $96.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.46.

iShares MBS ETF Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.3278 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares MBS ETF

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MBB. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in iShares MBS ETF by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 71,895,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,840,878,000 after purchasing an additional 7,566,099 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in iShares MBS ETF by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 51,677,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,917,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,620 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in iShares MBS ETF by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 27,903,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,656,940,000 after buying an additional 1,104,895 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in iShares MBS ETF by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,494,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,616,104,000 after buying an additional 727,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association raised its position in shares of iShares MBS ETF by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 26,010,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,479,899,000 after buying an additional 646,390 shares during the last quarter. 91.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About iShares MBS ETF

iShares MBS ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares Barclays MBS Bond Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results, which correspond to the price and yield performance of the Barclays Capital U.S. MBS Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of investment grade mortgage-backed pass-through securities issued by the Government National Mortgage (GNMA). The Index measures the performance of investment grade mortgage-backed pass-through securities issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC).