Mid-Cap Exodus: A Portfolio’s Quiet Turn

On a day when the market hummed like a tired engine, Lakeridge Wealth Management sold 47,314 shares of the First Trust Mid Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund (FNX), a $5.92 million transaction etched into the quiet ledger of quarterly filings. The shares had risen 13% over the past year, yet the sale moved forward, methodical and unflinching, like a farmer plowing through dust after a dry season.

What Happened

In the dry light of an SEC filing, the reduction of FNX exposure became a story of arithmetic and restraint. The shares, once a modest 1.47% of the firm’s reportable assets, now sit as a shadow in the portfolio’s broader tapestry. The numbers-47,314 shares, $5.92 million-feel clinical, but the act itself is human: a portfolio manager adjusting a collar in a storm, not out of panic, but to keep the coat from flapping loose.

What Else to Know

After the sale, the fund’s holdings read like a ledger of priorities. Dividend-focused ETFs and broad-market bets loom large, while mid-cap equities recede into the background. It is a portfolio shaped by discipline, not desperation, its edges trimmed to fit the contours of a shifting landscape. The AlphaDEX methodology, with its quantitative rigor, becomes a compass in uncertain terrain, though no compass can predict the weather.

NYSEMKT: FDVV: $19.38 million (8.92% of AUM)
NYSE: SHW: $11.83 million (5.44% of AUM)
NASDAQ: ISTB: $10.26 million (4.72% of AUM)
NYSEMKT: AVUS: $8.42 million (3.88% of AUM)
NYSEMKT: IVV: $7.78 million (3.58% of AUM)

FNX, priced at $131.60 as of Tuesday, had climbed 13.48% in a year, yet lagged the S&P 500 by a whisper of 3.51 percentage points. The gap is small, but in markets, even a whisper can echo.

ETF Overview

Metric	Value
AUM	$1.19 billion
Price (as of Tuesday)	$131.60
Yield	0.9%
1-year total return	13.48%

ETF Snapshot

FNX’s AlphaDEX strategy is a dance of numbers, seeking to outstep the NASDAQ US 600 Mid Cap Index by selecting stocks that lean into factors like momentum and value.
The fund’s portfolio is a mosaic of mid-cap U.S. equities, its composition shifting like sand with the AlphaDEX algorithm’s whims.
Structured as an ETF, it offers transparency and rules, two things that comfort the anxious and frustrate the opportunistic.

The First Trust Mid Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund is a creature of its methodology. With $1.19 billion in assets, it wades through the mid-cap waters, seeking to catch fish that others overlook. Its 0.62% expense ratio and Morningstar’s Bronze Medalist rating suggest a fund that is neither a savior nor a scourge, but a steady hand in a world of quick fingers.

What this transaction means for investors

The sale is not a betrayal of the mid-cap ethos but a recalibration. After a year of gains, the decision to trim feels less like a retreat and more like a pause-a moment to catch one’s breath before the next ascent. For the small investor, this is a reminder that even the most disciplined portfolios must bend to the wind. The fund’s high turnover and factor-based approach make it a restless traveler, its path diverging from traditional benchmarks like a stream carving its own canyon.

Yet the fund’s appeal lies in its process, not its results. A 13% return in a year is a decent harvest, but the market is a fickle landowner. Those who invest in FNX do so with the understanding that cycles turn, and patience is the only tool that won’t break under pressure. The sale, then, is not a sign of failure but a testament to the portfolio manager’s resolve: to hold what works, but never to cling.

Glossary

AlphaDEX® methodology: A system that selects and weights stocks like a farmer choosing seeds, guided by data rather than divine intervention.
Assets under management (AUM): The sum of all that a fund holds, a number that grows and shrinks with the seasons of the market.
13F reportable assets: The investments that must be revealed quarterly, a window into the portfolio’s soul.
Factor-based stock selection: Choosing stocks by measurable traits, as if picking apples by their size and color.
Risk-adjusted returns: The reward measured against the risk taken, a balance as delicate as a seesaw.
Exchange-traded fund (ETF): A bundle of securities traded like a single stock, a bridge between the complex and the accessible.
Quarter-end position: The snapshot of a holding at the close of a quarter, a still life in a moving picture.
Stake: Ownership, a claim to a piece of the pie, however small.
Transparent, rules-based approach: A strategy laid bare, like a recipe written in plain ink.
Mid-cap equities: Stocks of companies that are neither giants nor dwarfs, but somewhere in the middle.
Dividend yield: The income from dividends as a percentage of price, a measure of the earth’s generosity.
Total return: The sum of price changes and dividends, a full account of what was sown and reaped.

And so, the market turns. The sale of 47,314 shares is but a leaf in its history, a moment when a portfolio manager chose to step back, not out of fear, but to see the horizon more clearly. For the small investor, the lesson is simple: in a world of shifting sands, the only constant is the need to adapt. 🌾

2026-01-08 01:12