iShares MSCI South Africa ETF (NYSEARCA:EZA) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

iShares MSCI South Africa ETF (NYSEARCA:EZA) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 152,662 shares, a decline of 40.8% from the July 30th total of 257,741 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 113,640 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

iShares MSCI South Africa ETF Price Performance

EZA traded down $0.45 during trading on Monday, hitting $70.27. 117,244 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 270,443. The firm has a market capitalization of $597.29 million, a P/E ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.43 and a 200 day moving average of $68.49. iShares MSCI South Africa ETF has a 12-month low of $56.28 and a 12-month high of $81.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares MSCI South Africa ETF

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of iShares MSCI South Africa ETF by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 987,680 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $67,952,000 after purchasing an additional 104,291 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in iShares MSCI South Africa ETF in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,138,000. One Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in iShares MSCI South Africa ETF by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 31,141 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $2,142,000 after buying an additional 3,081 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC grew its position in shares of iShares MSCI South Africa ETF by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Innealta Capital LLC now owns 29,808 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $2,021,000 after buying an additional 3,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of iShares MSCI South Africa ETF by 23.0% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 27,261 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $1,848,000 after buying an additional 5,100 shares during the last quarter.

About iShares MSCI South Africa ETF

iShares MSCI South Africa ETF, formerly iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange traded fund. The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded securities in the aggregate in the South African market, as measured by the MSCI South Africa Index (the Index). The Index seeks to measure the performance of the South African equity market. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 85% of the (publicly available) total market capitalization.