iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 11,580,569 shares, an increase of 51.5% from the February 12th total of 7,644,392 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,283,227 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,283,227 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PFF. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $89,000. Union Savings Bank acquired a new position in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF during the 4th quarter worth $110,000. Bayban bought a new position in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF in the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Amicus Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF in the fourth quarter worth $3,270,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 410,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,711,000 after purchasing an additional 26,481 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Price Performance

Shares of PFF stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $30.67. The stock had a trading volume of 7,101,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,687,710. iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF has a twelve month low of $28.70 and a twelve month high of $32.26. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a PE ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.53.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a $0.0312 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Company Profile

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).