iShares MSCI Brazil ETF Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSEARCA:EWZ)

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (NYSEARCA:EWZ) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 297,106 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 42% compared to the average daily volume of 209,563 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EWZ. MKP Capital Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. MKP Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 2,286,900 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $72,655,000 after acquiring an additional 66,900 shares in the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 2,218,204 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $70,457,000 after purchasing an additional 357,853 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,110,619 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $65,429,000 after purchasing an additional 879,500 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI Brazil ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $65,840,000. Finally, Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. increased its stake in iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 136.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. now owns 2,005,000 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $62,155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.69% of the company’s stock.

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF Trading Down 3.7%

EWZ stock traded down $1.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $35.15. The company had a trading volume of 24,603,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,124,691. The stock has a market cap of $8.30 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.86 and a 200-day moving average of $33.28. iShares MSCI Brazil ETF has a one year low of $23.05 and a one year high of $39.69.

About iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil Capped Index Fund (the Fund), formerly iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund, seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Brazilian market, as measured by the MSCI Brazil Index (the Index). The Index seeks to measure the performance of the Brazilian equity market. It is a capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 85% of the (publicly available) total market capitalization.