Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA)

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 135,065 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 104% compared to the typical volume of 66,271 put options.

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Stock Performance

Shares of EFA opened at $81.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $57.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $81.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.01. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has a 52-week low of $73.91 and a 52-week high of $85.19.

Institutional Trading of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EFA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 22,067,950 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $1,668,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,463,799 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 289.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,811,793 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $590,650,000 after acquiring an additional 5,806,736 shares during the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. lifted its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 7,363,173 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $556,777,000 after purchasing an additional 434,415 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 401.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,483,982 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $339,034,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in iShares MSCI EAFE ETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $258,750,000. 79.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Company Profile

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.