Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSEARCA:XLB)

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 232,668 call options on the company. This is an increase of 399% compared to the average daily volume of 46,594 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of XLB. Capula Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,236,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the first quarter valued at approximately $355,000. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund during the first quarter worth approximately $988,000. MWA Asset Management acquired a new position in Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund in the first quarter worth approximately $217,000. Finally, Group One Trading LLC bought a new position in shares of Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund in the first quarter valued at $1,420,000. 75.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund Stock Down 0.8%

NYSEARCA XLB traded down $0.42 on Thursday, reaching $51.64. 9,966,501 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,570,716. Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund has a 12 month low of $42.03 and a 12 month high of $54.14. The company has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.35.

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