FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund (NYSEARCA:QDEF) Short Interest Up 26.3% in March

FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund (NYSEARCA:QDEF) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 26,586 shares, a growth of 26.3% from the February 26th total of 21,050 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 13,532 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of QDEF traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $78.97. 4,958 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,432. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.11. The company has a market cap of $483.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05 and a beta of 0.85. FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund has a 1 year low of $61.61 and a 1 year high of $84.60.

FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th were paid a $0.2011 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 20th.

Institutional Trading of FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund by 33.1% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 24,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,697,000 after purchasing an additional 6,034 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. purchased a new stake in FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund in the first quarter valued at approximately $968,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund by 4.5% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 29,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund during the second quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 49,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,678,000 after buying an additional 8,497 shares in the last quarter.

FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund Company Profile

The FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive Index Fund (QDEF) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in total market equity. The fund tracks an index of companies with higher dividend yields and lower betas chosen from the Northern Trust 1250 Index. QDEF was launched on Dec 14, 2012 and is managed by FlexShares.