Short Interest in iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:EWJ) Decreases By 47.3%

iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:EWJ) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 4,930,125 shares, a decrease of 47.3% from the June 15th total of 9,350,498 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 5,532,447 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iShares MSCI Japan ETF

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 10,230 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,869 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 229.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 38,500 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $2,886,000 after purchasing an additional 26,800 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 33,504.6% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 389,477 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $29,199,000 after purchasing an additional 388,318 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 6.1% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 546,723 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $40,988,000 after purchasing an additional 31,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 46.3% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 284,355 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $21,318,000 after purchasing an additional 89,999 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.60% of the company’s stock.

iShares MSCI Japan ETF Stock Performance

NYSEARCA EWJ traded down $1.42 on Friday, hitting $90.49. The stock had a trading volume of 8,286,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,273,915. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $92.87 and a 200-day moving average of $88.92. iShares MSCI Japan ETF has a 52-week low of $71.71 and a 52-week high of $97.52. The company has a market capitalization of $21.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63 and a beta of 0.68.

About iShares MSCI Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Japan ETF (the fund), formerly Ishares Msci Japan Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Japanese market, as measured by the MSCI Japan Index (the Index). The Index consists of stocks traded primarily on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index.