Traders Purchase High Volume of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Put Options (NYSEARCA:XLB)

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 288,757 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 626% compared to the typical daily volume of 39,751 put options.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund stock opened at $53.06 on Thursday. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a 12-month low of $36.56 and a 12-month high of $54.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XLB. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 27.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,234 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund in the first quarter valued at about $1,217,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 11,941.7% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,445 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 1,433 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 48.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,199 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $1,247,000 after acquiring an additional 4,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookwood Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the 2nd quarter worth about $219,000. Institutional investors own 75.78% of the company’s stock.

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