Sasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Sasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company.

SSL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of Sasol from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Sasol in a report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Sasol from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Zacks Research downgraded Sasol from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Sasol from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th.

Sasol Stock Performance

NYSE SSL opened at $11.23 on Tuesday. Sasol has a 52 week low of $4.77 and a 52 week high of $14.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $11.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Sarushen Dhanapalan Pillay sold 2,182 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total transaction of $28,671.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,313 shares in the company, valued at $214,352.82. The trade was a 11.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sasol

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Sasol by 123.3% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,381,209 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $13,563,000 after acquiring an additional 762,796 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Sasol by 1,627.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,025,934 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,381,000 after acquiring an additional 966,539 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA purchased a new position in shares of Sasol during the first quarter worth about $11,284,000. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Sasol by 52.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 835,052 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,436,000 after purchasing an additional 285,807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.21% of the company’s stock.

Sasol Company Profile

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.