Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB)

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 271,405 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 856% compared to the average volume of 28,399 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 102.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 156,400 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $13,734,000 after purchasing an additional 6,721,929 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 107.0% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 76,261 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $6,696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167,514 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 8,680.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740,303 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $65,006,000 after acquiring an additional 731,872 shares during the last quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. grew its stake in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 69.3% in the 3rd quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. now owns 1,636,350 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $146,650,000 after purchasing an additional 670,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,890,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.78% of the company’s stock.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Stock Performance

XLB traded up $1.01 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.20. The stock had a trading volume of 10,895,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,096,279. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a twelve month low of $36.56 and a twelve month high of $49.38. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 1.03.

About Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund

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