Short Interest in First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (NASDAQ:QQEW) Declines By 47.5%

First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (NASDAQ:QQEW) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 62,600 shares, a decline of 47.5% from the February 28th total of 119,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 76,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $119,160,000. Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new stake in First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund in the 4th quarter valued at $17,108,000. JP Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund during the 4th quarter worth about $15,063,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 856,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,003,000 after buying an additional 92,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,223,000.

First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund Stock Down 1.8 %

First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund stock traded down $2.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $121.69. The company had a trading volume of 27,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 78,764. The company has a 50 day moving average of $128.88 and a 200-day moving average of $127.73. First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund has a 52 week low of $113.15 and a 52 week high of $136.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58 and a beta of 1.05.

First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 27th will be given a dividend of $0.1529 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 27th. This is a boost from First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%.

About First Trust NASDAQ 100 Equal Weighted Index Fund

The First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (QQEW) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the NASDAQ-100 Equally Weighted index. The fund tracks an equal-weighted version of the NASDAQ 100. QQEW was launched on Apr 19, 2006 and is managed by First Trust.