Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB)

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 205,867 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 481% compared to the average volume of 35,444 call options.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Stock Performance

Shares of XLB stock opened at $50.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 1.03. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a one year low of $36.56 and a one year high of $52.02. The company’s 50-day moving average is $46.98 and its 200 day moving average is $45.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ally Invest Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ally Invest Advisors Inc. now owns 2,922 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 3.6% during the third quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 3,299 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 2.5% during the third quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 11.5% during the second quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 16,732 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $1,500,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. 75.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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