Investors Buy Large Volume of VanEck Gold Miners ETF Call Options (NYSEARCA:GDX)

VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 175,602 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 35% compared to the typical volume of 129,858 call options.

VanEck Gold Miners ETF Price Performance

GDX stock traded down $2.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.33. 10,550,769 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,961,807. The company has a market cap of $22.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70 and a beta of 0.65. VanEck Gold Miners ETF has a 12-month low of $51.37 and a 12-month high of $117.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $78.82 and its 200 day moving average is $90.74.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On VanEck Gold Miners ETF

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of VanEck Gold Miners ETF by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,876,546 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $1,104,421,000 after purchasing an additional 90,514 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in VanEck Gold Miners ETF by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,345,307 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $765,849,000 after buying an additional 858,716 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of VanEck Gold Miners ETF by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 7,053,592 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $604,987,000 after acquiring an additional 534,856 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of VanEck Gold Miners ETF by 282.0% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,692,956 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $247,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of VanEck Gold Miners ETF during the fourth quarter worth approximately $218,971,000.

VanEck Gold Miners ETF Company Profile

The Fund seeks to match as closely as possible the price and yield performance of the AMEX Gold Miners Index. The Fund, utilizing a passive or indexing investment approach, attempts to approximate the investment performance of the Index by investing in a portfolio of stocks that generally replicate the Index.