iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 7,544,435 shares, a decline of 34.9% from the February 26th total of 11,580,569 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 4,604,837 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFF. CX Institutional bought a new position in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF during the 3rd quarter valued at about $571,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 6.9% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,001,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,729,000 after purchasing an additional 65,031 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF in the third quarter worth about $748,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,549,000. Finally, Vigilare Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 165.0% during the third quarter. Vigilare Wealth Management now owns 29,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $935,000 after buying an additional 18,406 shares during the period. 4.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of PFF opened at $30.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a PE ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.32 and a 200 day moving average of $31.32. iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF has a 52-week low of $28.70 and a 52-week high of $32.26.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Cuts Dividend

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

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).