iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:HEWJ) Short Interest Up 149.5% in April

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:HEWJ) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 214,359 shares, a growth of 149.5% from the March 31st total of 85,907 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 67,594 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp grew its stake in shares of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp now owns 1,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in shares of iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $379,000. Finally, Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. acquired a new stake in iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,507,000.

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF Price Performance

Shares of NYSEARCA HEWJ traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $58.78. 89,191 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 192,187. iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF has a fifty-two week low of $41.20 and a fifty-two week high of $60.94. The firm has a market cap of $746.51 million, a PE ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.44.

About iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF

The iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (HEWJ) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in total market equity. The fund tracks an index of large- and mid-cap Japanese stocks, while fully hedging out its exposure to the yen relative to the US dollar. HEWJ was launched on Jan 31, 2014 and is managed by BlackRock.