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

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Financials - Insurance segment of the equity market, look no further than 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.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways 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 8, placing it in top 50%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $750.05 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 least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.37%.

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.

Looking at individual holdings, Allstate Corp (ALL - Free Report) accounts for about 2.81% of total assets, followed by Assurant Inc (AIZ - Free Report) and Willis Towers Watson Plc (WTW - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 24.86% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 6.32% so far this year and it's up approximately 11.91% in the last one year (as of 02/13/2024). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $37.44 and $48.08.

The ETF has a beta of 0.82 and standard deviation of 18.65% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 50 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Insurance ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. KIE, then, is not a suitable option for investors seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

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 $218.28 million in assets, iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has $529.35 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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