Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSEARCA:XLB)

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 182,547 put options on the company. This is an increase of 288% compared to the average volume of 47,050 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 1.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,756,100 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $487,512,000 after acquiring an additional 93,372 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 112.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,499,014 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $340,080,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972,016 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 99.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,210,960 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $236,317,000 after purchasing an additional 2,601,880 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 211.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,442,259 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $122,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 97.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,407,870 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $109,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188,168 shares in the last quarter. 75.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Stock Down 0.0%

XLB stock traded down $0.00 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $49.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,503,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,372,992. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a 52 week low of $42.03 and a 52 week high of $54.14. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.56.

About Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Materials Select Sector Index (the Index). The Index includes companies involved in such industries as chemicals; metals and mining; paper and forest products; containers and packaging, and construction materials. The Fund’s investment advisor is SSgA Funds Management, Inc