First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) Stock Short Interest Climbs 78.3%

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NASDAQ:FEP) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 61,611 shares, an increase of 78.3% from the August 31st total of 34,556 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 11,766 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Stock Performance

NASDAQ FEP traded down $0.48 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $56.41. The stock had a trading volume of 53,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,821. The stock has a market capitalization of $507.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -85.47 and a beta of 0.90. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund has a one year low of $49.11 and a one year high of $61.07. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.04.

First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th will be paid a $0.3254 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is a decrease from First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.7986. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 24th. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund’s payout ratio is currently -263.64%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 6.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 3.1% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 298,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,027,000 after acquiring an additional 9,002 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund during the 2nd quarter worth about $198,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 41,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the period.

About First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund

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.