Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $54.63 and last traded at $53.65, with a volume of 1,631,667 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.90.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Trading Down 1.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $50.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.12.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 1.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,756,100 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $487,512,000 after buying an additional 93,372 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 385.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,388,001 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $273,872,000 after acquiring an additional 4,278,731 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 2,447,685 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $119,204,000 after purchasing an additional 217,841 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in 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 valued at $122,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 1.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 702,637 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $35,111,000 after acquiring an additional 6,664 shares during the last quarter. 75.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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