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Should You Invest in the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE)?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Financials - Insurance segment of the equity market? You should consider the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE - Free Report) , 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.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Financials - Insurance is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 3, placing it in top 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $442.42 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

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.96%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, 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, Athene Holding Ltd. Class A accounts for about 2.48% of total assets, followed by Trupanion Inc. (TRUP - Free Report) and Brighthouse Financial Inc. (BHF - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 22.07% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -0.25% and is up roughly 10% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 03/17/2022), respectively. KIE has traded between $35.97 and $41.45 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.94 and standard deviation of 29.23% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 56 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Insurance ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, KIE is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Invesco KBW Property & Casualty Insurance ETF (KBWP - Free Report) tracks KBW Nasdaq Property & Casualty Index and the iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (IAK - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Insurance Index. Invesco KBW Property & Casualty Insurance ETF has $84.90 million in assets, iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has $140.05 million. KBWP has an expense ratio of 0.35% and IAK charges 0.42%.

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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