Launched on November 8, 2005, the State Street SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Financials - Insurance segment of the equity market.
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 5, placing it in top 31%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $446.35 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 1.65%.
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, Siriuspoint Ltd (SPNT) accounts for about 2.02% of total assets, followed by Baldwin Insurance Group Inc/ (BWIN) and Oscar Health Inc Class A (OSCR).The top 10 holdings account for about 19.44% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about 6.14% so far this year and is down about 2.65% in the last one year (as of 05/12/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $53.55 and $61.03.
The ETF has a beta of 0.64 and standard deviation of 16.36% 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
State Street 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 great choice 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) 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 $244.29 million in assets, iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has $358.41 million. KBWP has an expense ratio of 0.35%, and IAK charges 0.38%.
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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State Street SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).