First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund (NYSEARCA:FBT) Stock Short Interest Climbs 81.5%

First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund (NYSEARCA:FBT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 45,115 shares, a growth of 81.5% from the August 31st total of 24,861 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 28,782 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund Price Performance

Shares of NYSEARCA:FBT traded down $0.78 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $272.58. 37,616 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 112,468. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $261.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.18. First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund has a 12-month low of $176.75 and a 12-month high of $275.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72 and a beta of 0.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FBT. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund by 49,660.7% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,515,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $705,900,000 after buying an additional 3,508,029 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund by 5.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 200,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,357,000 after buying an additional 10,853 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund by 29.1% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 199,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,160,000 after acquiring an additional 45,112 shares in the last quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund by 2.3% in the second quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 97,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,101,000 after acquiring an additional 2,142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund by 5.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 66,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,314,000 after acquiring an additional 3,427 shares during the period.

About First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund

The First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the NYSE Arca Biotechnology index. The fund tracks an equal-weighted index of US biotechnology stocks. FBT was launched on Jun 19, 2006 and is managed by First Trust.