First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXZ) Short Interest Down 32.0% in March

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXZ) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 36,050 shares, a decrease of 32.0% from the February 26th total of 53,047 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 39,817 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FXZ. NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its position in shares of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 26,611.1% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 2,395 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 62.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. Petix & Botte Co purchased a new stake in shares of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $220,000.

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund Trading Up 0.3%

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund stock traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $73.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 87,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,605. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $292.06 million, a PE ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.15. First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund has a 1 year low of $46.13 and a 1 year high of $80.01.

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.2441 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 26th. This represents a $0.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%.

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund Company Profile

The First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (FXZ) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the StrataQuant Materials index. The fund tracks a tiered, equal-weighted index of large- and mid-cap basic materials firms in the US. Holdings are selected and weighted based on growth and value metrics. FXZ was launched on May 8, 2007 and is managed by First Trust.