Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on iShares Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ:IBB)

iShares Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ:IBB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 72,196 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,389% compared to the typical volume of 4,847 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in iShares Biotechnology ETF by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,489,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $990,177,000 after acquiring an additional 460,154 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in iShares Biotechnology ETF by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,380,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $346,561,000 after acquiring an additional 538,899 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its position in iShares Biotechnology ETF by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 743,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $108,234,000 after acquiring an additional 12,921 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in iShares Biotechnology ETF by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 663,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,533,000 after acquiring an additional 164,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Management ETF Advisors LLC lifted its position in iShares Biotechnology ETF by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC now owns 612,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,936,000 after acquiring an additional 18,810 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.45% of the company’s stock.

iShares Biotechnology ETF Trading Down 2.0 %

IBB stock opened at $134.24 on Tuesday. iShares Biotechnology ETF has a 1 year low of $123.60 and a 1 year high of $150.57. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.53. The firm has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a PE ratio of 24.52 and a beta of 0.84.

iShares Biotechnology ETF Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.0624 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th.

iShares Biotechnology ETF Company Profile

iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (the Index). The Index contains securities of NASDAQ listed companies that are classified according to the Industry Classification Benchmark as either biotechnology or pharmaceuticals, which also meet other eligibility criteria determined by NASDAQ.