iShares MSCI Italy ETF (NYSEARCA:EWI) Short Interest Up 63.3% in August

iShares MSCI Italy ETF (NYSEARCA:EWI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 605,473 shares, a growth of 63.3% from the July 30th total of 370,812 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 669,104 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares MSCI Italy ETF

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Italy ETF by 24.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 710,888 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $34,227,000 after acquiring an additional 139,088 shares during the period. Parkway Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of iShares MSCI Italy ETF by 1.5% in the first quarter. Parkway Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 622,607 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $35,507,000 after buying an additional 9,250 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Italy ETF by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 499,500 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $27,268,000 after buying an additional 88,500 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in iShares MSCI Italy ETF by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 289,258 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $15,715,000 after acquiring an additional 90,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cairn Investment Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI Italy ETF during the second quarter worth approximately $15,604,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 37.96% of the company’s stock.

iShares MSCI Italy ETF Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSEARCA EWI opened at $61.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $61.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.39. iShares MSCI Italy ETF has a twelve month low of $50.05 and a twelve month high of $63.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.87.

iShares MSCI Italy ETF Company Profile

iShares MSCI Italy Capped ETF, formerly iShares MSCI Italy Capped Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI Italy 25/50 Index (Index). The Index consists of stocks traded primarily on the Milan Stock Exchange. The Underlying Index is a free-float adjusted market capitalization weighted index with a capping methodology applied to issuer weights so that no single issuer of a component exceeds 25% of the Underlying Index weight and all issuers with weight above 5% do not exceed 50% of the Underlying Index weight.