iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PFF)

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (NASDAQ:PFF) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 10,159 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,345% compared to the average daily volume of 703 call options.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Price Performance

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF stock opened at $29.84 on Thursday. iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF has a fifty-two week low of $28.70 and a fifty-two week high of $33.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.99. The company has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.51.

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $2.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st.

Institutional Trading of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF during the third quarter valued at $67,000. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 6,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 42,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,210 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 63.0% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 42,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 16,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF by 51.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,453,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,314,000 after purchasing an additional 491,005 shares in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

iShares U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results, which correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (the Underlying Index). The Underlying Index measures the performance of a select group of preferred stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NYSE Arca, Inc (NYSE Arca), NYSE Amex, NASDAQ Global Select Market, NASDAQ Select Market or NASDAQ Capital Market.