Traders Buy High Volume of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Put Options (NYSEARCA:XLB)

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 188,449 put options on the company. This is an increase of 376% compared to the average daily volume of 39,561 put options.

Institutional Trading of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XLB. Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. bought a new stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund in the first quarter worth about $25,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 578 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 600 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.78% of the company’s stock.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Price Performance

NYSEARCA XLB traded up $0.22 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $52.72. 6,030,802 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,967,191. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a 12-month low of $42.03 and a 12-month high of $54.14. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.57.

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