Short Interest in First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF (NASDAQ:HISF) Rises By 90.4%

First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF (NASDAQ:HISF) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 10,913 shares, an increase of 90.4% from the August 15th total of 5,732 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,121 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days. Approximately 0.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HISF. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF by 59.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 701,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,118,000 after purchasing an additional 261,046 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 129,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,861,000 after buying an additional 35,807 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF by 72.1% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 63,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,799,000 after buying an additional 26,452 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF by 11.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 43,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,941,000 after buying an additional 4,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,186,000. Institutional investors own 51.36% of the company’s stock.

First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF Stock Performance

HISF traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.20. The stock had a trading volume of 3,870 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,577. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.20 million, a P/E ratio of 0.06 and a beta of 0.27. First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF has a 52 week low of $43.16 and a 52 week high of $45.61.

First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.182 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st.

About First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF

The First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF (HISF) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in broad credit fixed income. The fund uses a fund-of-funds structure to primarily seek income across a broad range of fixed income securities of US and non-US issuers. HISF was launched on Aug 13, 2014 and is managed by First Trust.