iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (NYSEARCA:IAK) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (NYSEARCA:IAK) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 54,472 shares, an increase of 70.3% from the April 30th total of 31,991 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 35,964 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of iShares U.S. Insurance ETF by 48.8% during the 2nd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 218,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,439,000 after buying an additional 71,783 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of iShares U.S. Insurance ETF by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 123,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,554,000 after acquiring an additional 7,703 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares U.S. Insurance ETF by 9.0% in the third quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 116,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,576,000 after acquiring an additional 9,617 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of iShares U.S. Insurance ETF by 64.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 94,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,672,000 after acquiring an additional 36,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in shares of iShares U.S. Insurance ETF by 9.4% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 78,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,543,000 after acquiring an additional 6,753 shares in the last quarter.

iShares U.S. Insurance ETF Trading Down 0.6%

NYSEARCA:IAK traded down $0.73 on Wednesday, hitting $128.38. 5,204 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 64,253. The company has a market cap of $359.46 million, a PE ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 0.54. iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has a 1 year low of $124.62 and a 1 year high of $138.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $130.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $132.91.

About iShares U.S. Insurance ETF

The iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (IAK) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the DJ US Select \u002F Insurance index. The fund tracks a market-cap index of US insurance companies. IAK was launched on May 1, 2006 and is managed by BlackRock.