iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,530,000 shares, a decline of 29.9% from the December 31st total of 12,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,323,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PFF. First Interstate Bank boosted its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 0.6% in the third quarter. First Interstate Bank now owns 1,651,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,870,000 after acquiring an additional 10,148 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,555,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,913,000 after buying an additional 90,356 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,453,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,314,000 after buying an additional 491,005 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 19.9% in the third quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,444,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,009,000 after buying an additional 239,661 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,085,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,122,000 after buying an additional 50,885 shares during the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PFF opened at $32.10 on Friday. iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF has a 1 year low of $30.56 and a 1 year high of $33.59. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.51.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.1767 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.60%. This is an increase from iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF’s previous monthly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th.

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.