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

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 30,601 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 121% compared to the typical daily volume of 13,864 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 385.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,388,001 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $273,872,000 after purchasing an additional 4,278,731 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 211.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,442,259 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $122,040,000 after buying an additional 1,657,671 shares in the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the 1st quarter valued at $34,107,000. Passaic Partners LLC purchased a new position in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the second quarter valued at approximately $19,176,000. Finally, Royal Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the 1st quarter valued at $12,125,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.78% of the company’s stock.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Price Performance

NYSEARCA XLB traded down $1.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $52.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,662,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,246,484. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.08. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a 52 week low of $42.03 and a 52 week high of $54.19. The stock has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 0.92.

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