Investors Buy Large Volume of iShares Semiconductor ETF Put Options (NASDAQ:SOXX)

iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 67,222 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 37% compared to the average daily volume of 48,960 put options.

iShares Semiconductor ETF Price Performance

NASDAQ SOXX opened at $504.53 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $570.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $448.07. iShares Semiconductor ETF has a 12 month low of $232.33 and a 12 month high of $655.95. The company has a market capitalization of $41.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84 and a beta of 1.77.

iShares Semiconductor ETF Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.2827 dividend. This is a boost from iShares Semiconductor ETF’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares Semiconductor ETF

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of iShares Semiconductor ETF by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,115,278 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $1,023,867,000 after purchasing an additional 538,125 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in iShares Semiconductor ETF by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,904,638 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $874,732,000 after buying an additional 941,363 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in iShares Semiconductor ETF by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,368,608 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $713,307,000 after buying an additional 547,109 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in iShares Semiconductor ETF by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,041,783 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $313,733,000 after buying an additional 17,038 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in iShares Semiconductor ETF by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 963,663 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $290,207,000 after buying an additional 121,561 shares during the period.

About iShares Semiconductor ETF

iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF, formerly iShares PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the United States-listed semiconductor stocks as represented by the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index (the Index). The Index is an equity benchmark for the United States-listed semiconductor stocks. The Index includes companies primarily involved in the design, distribution, manufacture and sale of semiconductors.