iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) Short Interest Update

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 6,182,118 shares, an increase of 49.4% from the January 15th total of 4,137,395 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,298,735 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Based on an average trading volume of 3,298,735 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CX Institutional bought a new stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF in the 3rd quarter worth about $571,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,001,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,729,000 after acquiring an additional 65,031 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF during the 3rd quarter valued at about $748,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its holdings in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 21,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 14.3% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 435,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,376,000 after acquiring an additional 54,528 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PFF opened at $31.69 on Friday. iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF has a 1 year low of $28.70 and a 1 year high of $32.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.39 and a 200 day moving average of $31.38. The stock has a market cap of $14.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.53.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.1772 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF’s previous monthly dividend of $0.07. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%.

About iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

iShares U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results, which correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (the Underlying Index). The Underlying Index measures the performance of a select group of preferred stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NYSE Arca, Inc (NYSE Arca), NYSE Amex, NASDAQ Global Select Market, NASDAQ Select Market or NASDAQ Capital Market. The Underlying Index includes preferred stocks with a market capitalization over $100 million, which meet minimum price, liquidity, trading volume, maturity and other requirements determined by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of The McGraw Hill Companies (S&P).