Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on iShares MSCI Australia ETF (NYSEARCA:EWA)

iShares MSCI Australia ETF (NYSEARCA:EWA) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 3,564 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 312% compared to the average volume of 866 put options.

iShares MSCI Australia ETF Price Performance

NYSEARCA:EWA traded down $0.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.74. 2,551,972 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,284,209. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.89 and a beta of 0.96. iShares MSCI Australia ETF has a 12-month low of $24.94 and a 12-month high of $30.48.

Institutional Trading of iShares MSCI Australia ETF

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in iShares MSCI Australia ETF during the 1st quarter valued at $739,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of iShares MSCI Australia ETF by 30.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 443,217 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $12,304,000 after buying an additional 103,563 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of iShares MSCI Australia ETF by 22.8% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 28,240 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 5,252 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new position in iShares MSCI Australia ETF in the first quarter worth about $2,067,000. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC raised its stake in iShares MSCI Australia ETF by 166.0% in the first quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 430,674 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $11,956,000 after buying an additional 268,761 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.69% of the company’s stock.

About iShares MSCI Australia ETF

iShares MSCI Australia ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, of publicly traded securities in the Australian market, as represented by the MSCI Australia Index (the Index). The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. The Index seeks to measure the performance of the Australian equity market.