Traders Purchase High Volume of SPDR S&P Retail ETF Call Options (NYSEARCA:XRT)

SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA:XRT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 25,724 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 46% compared to the typical volume of 17,560 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SPDR S&P Retail ETF

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XRT. Phoenix Financial Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of SPDR S&P Retail ETF by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 1,929,130 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $153,539,000 after buying an additional 765,000 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Advisors Group Inc. purchased a new stake in SPDR S&P Retail ETF during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,692,000. GTS Securities LLC lifted its stake in SPDR S&P Retail ETF by 1,670.3% during the fourth quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 283,352 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $22,552,000 after purchasing an additional 301,397 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of SPDR S&P Retail ETF in the 4th quarter worth about $15,450,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of SPDR S&P Retail ETF by 164.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 162,878 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $12,963,000 after purchasing an additional 415,616 shares during the last quarter.

SPDR S&P Retail ETF Price Performance

XRT opened at $71.43 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $339.29 million, a P/E ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 1.34. SPDR S&P Retail ETF has a one year low of $66.07 and a one year high of $84.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $74.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.39.

SPDR S&P Retail ETF Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.1806 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 24th.

SPDR S&P Retail ETF Company Profile

SPDR S&P Retail ETF (the Fund) seeks to replicate as closely as possible the performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index (the Index). The Index is an equal weighted market cap index. The Index represents the retail sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Market Index. The Fund invests in industries, such as apparel retail, automotive retail, food retail, department stores, Internet retail, general merchandise stores, drug retail, and hypermarkets and super centers.