Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSEARCA:XLU)

Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLU) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 103,278 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 65% compared to the typical volume of 62,750 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 3.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,041,814 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $1,286,839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055,742 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its holdings in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 33.8% during the first quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 3,452,577 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $158,439,000 after purchasing an additional 871,665 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 13.5% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,431,828 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $157,487,000 after purchasing an additional 408,986 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 5.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,949,282 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $135,343,000 after purchasing an additional 144,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 2.3% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,970,391 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $90,422,000 after purchasing an additional 44,633 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.06% of the company’s stock.

Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund Price Performance

Shares of XLU stock traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $41.87. The company had a trading volume of 27,123,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,213,590. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.15 and a 200 day moving average of $44.19. The firm has a market cap of $24.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.74 and a beta of 0.56. Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund has a 1-year low of $39.03 and a 1-year high of $47.80.

About Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund

Select Sector Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (the Fund), formerly Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund, seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Utilities Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index (the Index). The Index includes companies from industries, such as electric utilities, multi-utilities, independent power producers and energy traders, and gas utilities. The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing investment approach to attempt to approximate the investment performance of the Index.