iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSEARCA:EFA)

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 69,534 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 50% compared to the typical daily volume of 46,351 put options.

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Price Performance

Shares of EFA traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $105.77. The stock had a trading volume of 3,527,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,675,896. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has a 52 week low of $91.21 and a 52 week high of $108.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $106.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.31. The company has a market capitalization of $77.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 0.78.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFA. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 40,238,465 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $4,179,972,000 after acquiring an additional 604,529 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 21,517,515 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $2,066,327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,180 shares during the period. AlTi Global Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 1.1% during the first quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 6,222,715 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $604,412,000 after purchasing an additional 69,780 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 27.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 5,586,139 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $542,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,734,895 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $362,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548,421 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.80% of the company’s stock.

About iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, formerly iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund’s investment objective is to seek investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of its underlying index, MSCI EAFE Index (the Index). The Index has been developed by MSCI Inc as an equity benchmark for its international stock performance. The Index includes stocks from Europe, Australasia and the Far East. The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index.