Sasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL) Short Interest Up 34.0% in March
by Michael Walen · The Markets DailySasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,025,259 shares, a growth of 34.0% from the March 15th total of 3,003,147 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,036,876 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 0.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sasol by 75.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,450,355 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,135,000 after acquiring an additional 624,911 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sasol by 1,627.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,025,934 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,381,000 after acquiring an additional 966,539 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Sasol by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 835,052 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,436,000 after acquiring an additional 285,807 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Sasol by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 680,048 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,426,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sasol by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 583,900 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,801,000 after acquiring an additional 66,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.21% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
SSL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Sasol in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sasol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Sasol in a research note on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sasol from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Sasol from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.
Sasol Trading Down 7.2%
Shares of Sasol stock traded down $0.95 on Friday, hitting $12.18. 3,409,736 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,627,425. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.88. Sasol has a 1 year low of $3.41 and a 1 year high of $13.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.
About Sasol
Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company’s core operations encompass the conversion of natural gas, coal and heavy hydrocarbons into liquid fuels and a wide array of chemical products. Sasol leverages proprietary Fischer-Tropsch and gas-to-liquids (GTL) technologies to deliver cleaner-burning diesel, jet fuel and naphtha, alongside solvents, surfactants and specialty polymers for industrial and consumer applications.
In addition to its GTL business, Sasol operates downstream facilities for the manufacture of alpha olefins, ethylene, propylene and other base-chemical intermediates.