Yahoo Finance Should You Invest in the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE)?
Looking for broad exposure to the Financials - Insurance segment of the equity market? You should consider the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 11/08/2005.
While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.
Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Financials - Insurance is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 15, placing it in bottom 6%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $743.02 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Financials - Insurance segment of the equity market. KIE seeks to match the performance of the S&P Insurance Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Insurance Select Industry Index represents the insurance segment of the S&P Total Market Index.
Costs
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.45%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector--about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Lincoln National Corp (LNC) accounts for about 2.30% of total assets, followed by Allstate Corp (ALL) and Everest Group Ltd (EG).
The top 10 holdings account for about 22% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF has added roughly 10.34% so far, and it's up approximately 24.90% over the last 12 months (as of 06/18/2024). KIE has traded between $39.54 and $52.07 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.85 and standard deviation of 18.37% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 51 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
SPDR S&P Insurance ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, KIE is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
Invesco KBW Property & Casualty Insurance ETF (KBWP) tracks KBW Nasdaq Property & Casualty Index and the iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (IAK) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Insurance Index. Invesco KBW Property & Casualty Insurance ETF has $318.03 million in assets, iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has $608.90 million. KBWP has an expense ratio of 0.35% and IAK charges 0.40%.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE): ETF Research Reports
Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
The Allstate Corporation (ALL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (IAK): ETF Research Reports
Invesco KBW Property & Casualty Insurance ETF (KBWP): ETF Research Reports
Everest Group, Ltd. (EG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
