Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of iShares Semiconductor ETF Put Options (NASDAQ:SOXX)

iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 49,561 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 29% compared to the typical volume of 38,560 put options.

iShares Semiconductor ETF Stock Up 5.1%

Shares of SOXX traded up $28.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $590.88. The company had a trading volume of 6,572,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,267,576. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $559.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.67. iShares Semiconductor ETF has a 1-year low of $232.33 and a 1-year high of $655.95. The stock has a market cap of $42.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84 and a beta of 1.77.

iShares Semiconductor ETF Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares Semiconductor ETF

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Semiconductor ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $201,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in iShares Semiconductor ETF by 83.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in iShares Semiconductor ETF by 102.6% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 3,495 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770 shares during the last quarter. Amundi acquired a new position in iShares Semiconductor ETF in the second quarter valued at $831,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in iShares Semiconductor ETF by 9.0% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 5,817 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after acquiring an additional 482 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.