First Trust Senior Loan ETF (NASDAQ:FTSL) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Up 337.0% in September

First Trust Senior Loan ETF (NASDAQ:FTSL) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 1,074,421 shares, an increase of 337.0% from the September 15th total of 245,840 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 384,574 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Trust Senior Loan ETF

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sacks & Associates LLC bought a new stake in First Trust Senior Loan ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,677,000. Castleview Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Trust Senior Loan ETF by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 6,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the period. Balefire LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Trust Senior Loan ETF by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 13,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Trust Senior Loan ETF by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 181,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,104,000 after purchasing an additional 39,686 shares during the period. Finally, Rhodes Investment Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of First Trust Senior Loan ETF during the third quarter valued at about $289,000.

First Trust Senior Loan ETF Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTSL traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.64. 380,569 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 301,946. The company’s fifty day moving average is $44.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.91. First Trust Senior Loan ETF has a fifty-two week low of $44.37 and a fifty-two week high of $46.09.

First Trust Senior Loan ETF Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th were issued a $0.2250 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 24th.

About First Trust Senior Loan ETF

The First Trust Senior Loan Fund (FTSL) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the S&P\u002FLSTA U.S. Leveraged Loan 100 index. The fund holds senior floating rate bank loans from firms around the globe. The actively managed fund can hold up to 20% of assets in non-senior loans, including high-yield bonds and equities. FTSL was launched on May 1, 2013 and is managed by First Trust.