Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB)

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 232,668 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 399% compared to the typical volume of 46,594 call options.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Price Performance

Shares of NYSEARCA:XLB traded down $1.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $50.30. 11,192,728 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,537,280. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.41. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a 12-month low of $42.03 and a 12-month high of $54.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XLB. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings 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 worth $340,080,000 after buying an additional 3,972,016 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 99.7% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,210,960 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $236,317,000 after acquiring an additional 2,601,880 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 97.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,188,168 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 107.5% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,093,364 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $94,934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084,700 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 2,000,940 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $90,743,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,420 shares in the last quarter. 75.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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