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 November 8, 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.
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 2, placing it in top 13%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $838.19 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
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are 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 1.57%.
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, Lemonade Inc (LMND) accounts for about 2.44% of total assets, followed by Genworth Financial Inc (GNW) and Lincoln National Corp (LNC).
The top 10 holdings account for about 21.73% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF return is roughly 4.95% so far, and was up about 6.42% over the last 12 months (as of 09/01/2025). KIE has traded between $53.63 and $62.03 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.74 and standard deviation of 17.88% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 55 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) 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 $477.61 million in assets, iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has $717.29 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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SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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