iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF (NYSEARCA:IYR) Short Interest Update

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF (NYSEARCA:IYR) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 7,191,586 shares, a decline of 14.4% from the March 15th total of 8,405,430 shares. Approximately 16.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 8,900,669 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IYR. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF by 68.9% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 755 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF by 8.0% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,142 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF during the second quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new stake in shares of iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF during the second quarter worth about $592,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.41% of the company’s stock.

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF Price Performance

IYR traded up $1.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $102.98. 5,843,828 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,960,232. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a PE ratio of 35.41 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $98.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.44. iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF has a 1-year low of $88.94 and a 1-year high of $103.10.

About iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF, formerly iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index Fund (the Fund), is a non-diversified fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the real estate sector of the United States equity market, and includes companies in the industry groups, such as real estate holding and development and real estate investment trusts (REITs).