Sasol (NYSE:SSL) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Sasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a strong sell rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $6.31, but opened at $6.94. Sasol shares last traded at $7.1750, with a volume of 943,342 shares changing hands.

SSL has been the topic of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sasol from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Sasol in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Sasol in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sasol presently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SSL. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sasol by 75.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,450,355 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,135,000 after buying an additional 624,911 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 966,539 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Sasol by 25.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 890,502 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,936,000 after acquiring an additional 180,827 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Sasol by 11.9% during the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 767,312 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,392,000 after acquiring an additional 81,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Sasol by 206.2% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 537,250 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,375,000 after acquiring an additional 361,777 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 1.21% of the company’s stock.

Sasol Stock Up 6.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.20.

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.