Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSEARCA:EWY)

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSEARCA:EWY) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 67,131 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 26% compared to the typical daily volume of 53,068 put options.

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF Stock Down 6.7%

Shares of NYSEARCA:EWY opened at $125.78 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $127.43 and its 200 day moving average is $102.63. iShares MSCI South Korea ETF has a 12-month low of $48.49 and a 12-month high of $154.22. The stock has a market cap of $12.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.35 and a beta of 1.22.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI South Korea ETF by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 239,956 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $12,967,000 after buying an additional 52,259 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in iShares MSCI South Korea ETF by 17.8% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,062 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in iShares MSCI South Korea ETF during the second quarter worth about $1,585,000. Creative Planning raised its position in iShares MSCI South Korea ETF by 3.6% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,021 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in iShares MSCI South Korea ETF by 457.4% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 49,582 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $3,559,000 after acquiring an additional 40,687 shares during the period. 49.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF Company Profile

iShares MSCI South Korea Capped ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI Korea 25/50 Index (the Index). The Index consists of stocks traded primarily on the Stock Market Division of the Korean Exchange. The Index is a free-float adjusted market capitalization weighted index with a capping methodology applied to issuer weights so that no issuer of a component exceeds 25% of the Index weight and all issuers with weight above 5% do not exceed 50% of the Index weight.