Patents Assigned to First Trust Portfolios L.P.
  • Publication number: 20140058979
    Abstract: Methods and systems for selecting and weighting securities for an actively managed exchange-traded fund. An initial selection of stocks includes domestic or international stocks, which are selected based at least in part on market capitalization. Each stock is scored using a plurality of growth and value factors to generate one or more growth scores and one or more value scores. A selection score is determined for each stock, and the stocks are ranked according to selection scores. A predetermined amount of stocks are eliminated from the stock portfolio based on selection score ranking, and the remaining stocks are split into a plurality of sub-groups. A stock portfolio is generated by weighting the remaining stocks according to the sub-groups they are in, with each stock being equally weighted within its sub-group. An exchange-traded fund is offered to consumers based on the stock portfolio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2013
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: First Trust Portfolios L.P.
    Inventors: David McGarel, Robert Hensley, Christopher Peterson, Dan Waldron
  • Patent number: 8595118
    Abstract: Methods and systems for selecting and weighting securities for an actively managed exchange-traded fund. An initial selection of stocks includes domestic or international stocks, which are selected based at least in part on market capitalization. Each stock is scored using a plurality of growth and value factors to generate one or more growth scores and one or more value scores. A selection score is determined for each stock, and the stocks are ranked according to selection scores. A predetermined amount of stocks are eliminated from the stock portfolio based on selection score ranking, and the remaining stocks are split into a plurality of sub-groups. A stock portfolio is generated by weighting the remaining stocks according to the sub-groups they are in, with each stock being equally weighted within its sub-group. An exchange-traded fund is offered to consumers based on the stock portfolio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: First Trust Portfolios L.P.
    Inventors: David McGarel, Robert Hensley, Chris Peterson, Dan Waldron
  • Patent number: 8346649
    Abstract: Provided are methods and computer software applications for generating a stock portfolio, and/or enhanced stock index, through using a plurality of growth factors and a plurality of value factors to rank stocks, and for constructing investment vehicles based on the stock portfolio. The method, software application, or computer apparatus of the present technology employs a novel stock selection strategy to select stocks from a pre-selected universe of securities such as a commercially available stock market index in order to create a stock portfolio, and/or enhanced stock index, and a fund based thereon that can generate positive alpha as compared to a fund based on the pre-selected universe of securities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: First Trust Portfolios L.P.
    Inventors: Dan Waldron, David McGarel, Robert Hensley, Christopher Peterson
  • Patent number: 8301538
    Abstract: Methods and systems for selecting and weighting securities for an actively managed exchange-traded fund. An initial selection of stocks includes domestic or international stocks, which are selected based at least in part on market capitalization. Each stock is scored using a plurality of growth and value factors to generate one or more growth scores and one or more value scores. A selection score is determined for each stock, and the stocks are ranked according to selection scores. A predetermined amount of stocks are eliminated from the stock portfolio based on selection score ranking, and the remaining stocks are split into a plurality of sub-groups. A stock portfolio is generated by weighting the remaining stocks according to the sub-groups they are in, with each stock being equally weighted within its sub-group. An exchange-traded fund is offered to consumers based on the stock portfolio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: First Trust Portfolios L.P.
    Inventors: David McGarel, Robert Hensley, Chris Peterson, Dan Waldron
  • Patent number: 7987130
    Abstract: Provided are methods and computer software applications for generating a stock portfolio, and/or enhanced stock index, through using a plurality of growth factors and a plurality of value factors to rank stocks, and for constructing investment vehicles based on the stock portfolio. The method, software application, or computer apparatus of the present technology employs a novel stock selection strategy to select stocks from a pre-selected universe of securities such as a commercially available stock market index in order to create a stock portfolio, and/or enhanced stock index, and a fund based thereon that can generate positive alpha as compared to a fund based on the pre-selected universe of securities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignee: First Trust Portfolios L.P.
    Inventors: Dan Waldron, David McGarel, Robert Hensley, Chris Peterson
  • Patent number: 7949591
    Abstract: Methods and systems for selecting and weighting securities for an actively managed exchange-traded fund. An initial selection of stocks includes domestic or international stocks, which are selected based at least in part on market capitalization. Each stock is scored using a plurality of growth and value factors to generate one or more growth scores and one or more value scores. A selection score is determined for each stock, and the stocks are ranked according to selection scores. A predetermined amount of stocks are eliminated from the stock portfolio based on selection score ranking, and the remaining stocks are split into a plurality of sub-groups. A stock portfolio is generated by weighting the remaining stocks according to the sub-groups they are in, with each stock being equally weighted within its sub-group. An exchange-traded fund is offered to consumers based on the stock portfolio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: First Trust Portfolios L.P.
    Inventors: David McGarel, Robert Hensley, Chris Peterson, Dan Waldron
  • Patent number: 7340425
    Abstract: A method is provided for selecting a portfolio of securities for investment purposes and then deciding the quantity of shares of each selected security in the portfolio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2008
    Assignee: First Trust Portfolios, L.P.
    Inventors: Michael R. Boyle, Chuck R. Craig
  • Patent number: 7206760
    Abstract: A method is provided for selecting a portfolio of securities for investment purposes. Specifically, the method utilizes three types of securities-related data: price appreciation, return-on-assets ratio, and price-to-cashflow ratio. A group of securities is ranked by price appreciation, return-on-assets ratio, and price-to-cashflow ratio; a number of the securities having the highest average rank are selected for investment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: First Trust Portfolios L.P.
    Inventors: Robert Carey, Greg McIntyre