First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (NASDAQ:QQEW) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (NASDAQ:QQEW)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $146.54 and last traded at $146.1580, with a volume of 37366 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $145.69.

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.71. The stock has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18 and a beta of 1.08.

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $0.1878 dividend. This is a positive change from First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QQEW. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 268,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,901,000 after acquiring an additional 5,417 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund by 17.0% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 186,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,291,000 after purchasing an additional 27,028 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund by 3.0% in the second quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 129,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,626,000 after purchasing an additional 3,754 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund by 20.7% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 110,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,626,000 after purchasing an additional 19,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the period.

First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund Company Profile

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.