Back to top

Image: Bigstock

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

Read MoreHide Full Article

Launched on 11/08/2005, the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Financials - Insurance segment of the equity market.

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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 3, placing it in top 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $991.58 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

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain 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 1.48%.

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, Goosehead Insurance Inc A (GSHD - Free Report) accounts for about 2.55% of total assets, followed by Unum Group (UNM - Free Report) and Axis Capital Holdings Ltd (AXS - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 22.16% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 26.71% and it's up approximately 27.61% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 12/24/2024), respectively. KIE has traded between $44.90 and $62.03 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.86 and standard deviation of 18% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 52 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 an excellent 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 - 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 $449.98 million in assets, iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has $750.83 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.

Published in