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

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (NYSEARCA:EWZ) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 250,482 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 48% compared to the typical daily volume of 169,691 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 11.0% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,975 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its position in shares of iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 8,093 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 5.1% in the third quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 8,699 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. raised its stake in iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 100.0% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 880 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management lifted its position in iShares MSCI Brazil ETF by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 37,908 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. 72.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF Stock Performance

Shares of EWZ traded up $1.35 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $34.97. 40,360,943 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,810,717. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $32.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.45. The company has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.87. iShares MSCI Brazil ETF has a 12-month low of $23.05 and a 12-month high of $34.94.

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.