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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.

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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 14, placing it in bottom 13%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $517.83 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 1.71%.

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, Lincoln National Corp (LNC - Free Report) accounts for about 2.46% of total assets, followed by Principal Financial Group (PFG - Free Report) and American Equity Invt Life Hl .

The top 10 holdings account for about 23.58% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF has added about 4.76% so far, and is up roughly 10.89% over the last 12 months (as of 08/11/2023). KIE has traded between $35.58 and $44.10 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.86 and standard deviation of 20.58% 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 the best option for investors seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs segment of the market. However, 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 $206.42 million in assets, iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has $359.21 million. KBWP has an expense ratio of 0.35% and IAK charges 0.39%.

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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