First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF (NYSEARCA:RND) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF (NYSEARCA:RND) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 21,625 shares, a growth of 758.1% from the June 30th total of 2,520 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,359 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 15.9 days. Approximately 8.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF Price Performance

NYSEARCA RND opened at $30.89 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $7.72 million, a PE ratio of 34.30 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.25. First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF has a 1-year low of $26.25 and a 1-year high of $32.68.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF in the fourth quarter valued at about $140,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF in the fourth quarter worth about $627,000.

About First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF

The First Trust Bloomberg R&D Leaders ETF (RND) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the Bloomberg R&D Leaders Select TR index. The fund tracks a market cap-weighted index of 30-50 US stocks with substantial expenditures dedicated to research and development. RND was launched on Apr 30, 2024 and is issued by First Trust.