Sasol (NYSE:SSL) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Sasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $5.52, but opened at $6.38. Sasol shares last traded at $6.40, with a volume of 614,819 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SSL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Sasol in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sasol from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Sasol from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sasol currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Sasol Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 2.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.78.

Institutional Trading of Sasol

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Sasol by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 709,675 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,002,000 after buying an additional 50,412 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Sasol by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 17,229 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 3,433 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in shares of Sasol by 549.7% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 101,974 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 86,279 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in shares of Sasol by 368.2% during the 1st quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 437,517 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,851,000 after buying an additional 344,066 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Sasol by 102.7% during the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 57,362 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 29,063 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.21% of the company’s stock.

About Sasol

Sasol Limited operates as a chemical and energy company in South Africa and internationally. It offers alumina, such as battery materials, catalyst supports, abrasives and polishing, and polymer additives; cobalt fischer-tropsch catalysts; carbon-based and recarburiser products; graphite electrodes; and mono-ethylene glycol and chlor-alkali products, monomers, mining chemicals and reagents, blends and hydrocarbons, methanol products, polymers, phenolics, and fertilizers.