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

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 288,757 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 626% compared to the average volume of 39,751 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 102.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 156,400 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $13,734,000 after purchasing an additional 6,721,929 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 112.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,499,014 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $340,080,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972,016 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 99.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,210,960 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $236,317,000 after buying an additional 2,601,880 shares during the period. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the 4th quarter worth approximately $72,742,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,188,168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.78% of the company’s stock.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Price Performance

Shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund stock opened at $53.06 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.20. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a fifty-two week low of $36.56 and a fifty-two week high of $54.14. The firm has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 1.03.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Company Profile

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