iShares Russell 2000 ETF Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSEARCA:IWM)

iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 2,192,363 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 36% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,610,816 put options.

iShares Russell 2000 ETF Price Performance

Shares of NYSEARCA IWM traded down $2.90 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $230.53. 79,533,058 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,019,719. iShares Russell 2000 ETF has a one year low of $171.73 and a one year high of $252.77. The company’s 50 day moving average is $243.04 and its 200 day moving average is $226.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69 and a beta of 1.13.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iShares Russell 2000 ETF

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IWM. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 1,186.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 51,271,785 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $10,228,208,000 after buying an additional 47,286,837 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 5.8% in the second quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,616,866 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $1,859,433,000 after acquiring an additional 472,801 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 35.3% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,178,921 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $1,764,930,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,779 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 6,747,829 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $1,456,114,000 after purchasing an additional 648,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,230,003,000.

iShares Russell 2000 ETF Company Profile

iShares Russell 2000 ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 2000 Index (the Index). The Index is a float-adjusted capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the United States equity market and includes securities issued by the approximately 2,000 smallest issuers in the Russell 3000 Index.