FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund (NYSEARCA:QDEF) Short Interest Update

FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund (NYSEARCA:QDEF) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 26,586 shares, an increase of 26.3% from the February 26th total of 21,050 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,532 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund Price Performance

NYSEARCA QDEF opened at $79.82 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $82.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.11. FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund has a 12 month low of $61.61 and a 12 month high of $84.60. The company has a market capitalization of $488.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05 and a beta of 0.85.

FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th were paid a $0.2011 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 20th.

Institutional Trading of FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QDEF. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund in the 1st quarter valued at about $968,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,360,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,106,000 after buying an additional 13,741 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 67,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,425,000 after buying an additional 11,341 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund during the third quarter worth approximately $868,000. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund in the third quarter valued at approximately $790,000.

About FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund

The FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund (QDEF) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in total market equity. The fund tracks an index of companies with higher dividend yields and lower betas chosen from the Northern Trust 1250 Index. QDEF was launched on Dec 14, 2012 and is managed by FlexShares.