iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF (NYSEARCA:SMLF) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF (NYSEARCA:SMLF) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 214,540 shares, a growth of 334.7% from the July 15th total of 49,357 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 134,460 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 68,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,157,000 after purchasing an additional 16,638 shares in the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF by 126.0% during the fourth quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 35,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,685,000 after purchasing an additional 19,988 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,211,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,710,000 after buying an additional 149,923 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in shares of iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF in the fourth quarter worth about $22,271,000. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF by 50.7% during the 4th quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 19,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after buying an additional 6,524 shares in the last quarter.

iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF Trading Up 0.4%

NYSEARCA:SMLF traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $90.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 51,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 222,501. iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF has a 12-month low of $69.99 and a 12-month high of $90.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.23. The stock has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 1.08.

About iShares U.S. Small Cap Equity Factor ETF

The iShares MSCI USA Small-Cap Multifactor ETF (SMLF) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the STOXX U.S. SmallCap Equity Factor index. The fund tracks an index of small-cap US equities. Stocks are selected and weighted to increase exposure to four factors (quality, value, momentum, and low volatility). SMLF was launched on Apr 28, 2015 and is managed by BlackRock.