iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSEARCA:EFA)

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 110,026 put options on the company. This is an increase of 58% compared to the typical daily volume of 69,474 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EFA. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 13.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 9,776 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 0.9% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,296,376 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $121,043,000 after purchasing an additional 11,516 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 105,807 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $9,879,000 after purchasing an additional 4,667 shares in the last quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,803 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $10,532,000 after purchasing an additional 43,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP acquired a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at about $777,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.80% of the company’s stock.

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Stock Down 1.0%

EFA traded down $0.95 during trading on Thursday, hitting $91.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,315,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,648,450. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 0.84. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has a twelve month low of $72.14 and a twelve month high of $96.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $94.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.97.

About iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

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.