Traders Buy High Volume of Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund Put Options (NYSEARCA:XLU)

Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLU) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 71,282 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 53% compared to the typical volume of 46,541 put options.

Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund Trading Up 0.2%

NYSEARCA:XLU opened at $46.27 on Wednesday. Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund has a 1-year low of $35.51 and a 1-year high of $47.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74 and a beta of 0.62.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XLU. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 21,694,396 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $926,134,000 after purchasing an additional 10,429,314 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,178,321 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $647,962,000 after purchasing an additional 7,817,477 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 410.1% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 9,052,676 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $386,459,000 after purchasing an additional 7,277,976 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 126.3% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 12,732,033 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $543,531,000 after purchasing an additional 7,106,976 shares during the period. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its position in Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund by 257.0% during the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 6,215,695 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock worth $265,342,000 after purchasing an additional 4,474,583 shares during the period. 90.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund

Select Sector Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (the Fund), formerly Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund, seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Utilities Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index (the Index). The Index includes companies from industries, such as electric utilities, multi-utilities, independent power producers and energy traders, and gas utilities. The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing investment approach to attempt to approximate the investment performance of the Index.