Sasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL) Short Interest Up 34.0% in March

Sasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,025,259 shares, an increase of 34.0% from the March 15th total of 3,003,147 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,036,876 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 0.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on SSL. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sasol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Sasol in a research report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group lowered shares of Sasol from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Sasol in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Sasol from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Institutional Trading of Sasol

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Sasol by 75.7% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,450,355 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,135,000 after purchasing an additional 624,911 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Sasol by 31.9% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 154,700 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 37,412 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Sasol during the second quarter valued at approximately $52,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Sasol by 7,082.0% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 59,395 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 58,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sasol by 347.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,960 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 6,957 shares in the last quarter. 1.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sasol Price Performance

Shares of Sasol stock traded down $0.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $12.18. 3,409,736 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,627,425. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.52 and its 200 day moving average is $7.88. Sasol has a 1 year low of $3.41 and a 1 year high of $13.68.

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.