Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:LQD)

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:LQD) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 82,678 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 35% compared to the typical volume of 61,074 put options.

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of LQD traded up $0.19 on Thursday, reaching $106.41. 30,975,601 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 34,049,156. The stock has a market cap of $34.13 billion, a PE ratio of 32.25 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.27. iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF has a 52-week low of $106.07 and a 52-week high of $112.93.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LQD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF by 430.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,932,215 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $433,291,000 after purchasing an additional 3,190,347 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas boosted its holdings in shares of iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 2,362,313 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $260,303,000 after buying an additional 298,058 shares during the last quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF in the 4th quarter worth about $142,182,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 600,200 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $66,136,000 after buying an additional 149,000 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF by 54.5% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 472,813 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $52,099,000 after buying an additional 166,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF Company Profile

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index (the Index), which is a rules-based index consisting of liquid, the United States dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds for sale in the United States. The Index may include large-, mid- or small-capitalization companies, and components primarily include consumer services, financial, and oil and gas companies.