First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXZ) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXZ) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 23,816 shares, a growth of 113.1% from the August 15th total of 11,177 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 23,129 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.0 days. Approximately 0.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund Trading Up 0.6%

NYSEARCA:FXZ traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $82.23. 7,376 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 50,435. The firm has a market capitalization of $394.70 million, a P/E ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.94. First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund has a fifty-two week low of $57.87 and a fifty-two week high of $88.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 277.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 385,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,353,000 after purchasing an additional 283,145 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 57,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 37.1% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,382,000 after buying an additional 15,577 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new position in First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,120,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 28,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,868,000 after buying an additional 3,601 shares during the last quarter.

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.