Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC)

Sable Offshore Corp. (NYSE:SOC) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 24,872 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 62% compared to the average volume of 15,359 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO James Caldwell Flores sold 39,311 shares of Sable Offshore stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.56, for a total value of $533,057.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 562,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,630,754.40. This trade represents a 6.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Gregory D. Patrinely sold 39,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.56, for a total transaction of $533,057.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 562,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,630,754.40. The trade was a 6.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 240,163 shares of company stock worth $3,228,498 over the last three months. 20.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sable Offshore

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Sable Offshore by 1,504.0% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 11,091,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,048,000 after purchasing an additional 10,400,275 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Sable Offshore by 542.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,592,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,564,000 after purchasing an additional 9,788,351 shares during the last quarter. FourWorld Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sable Offshore in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,113,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sable Offshore by 60.6% during the fourth quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,489,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,673,000 after buying an additional 5,091,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Sable Offshore by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,557,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,170,000 after buying an additional 2,975,712 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.19% of the company’s stock.

Sable Offshore Trading Up 6.8%

SOC stock traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $4.68. The stock had a trading volume of 3,542,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,425,439. Sable Offshore has a 52-week low of $2.88 and a 52-week high of $31.74. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.28. The company has a market cap of $722.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.08 and a beta of -0.08.

Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.52) by ($0.85). The firm had revenue of $1.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.10 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Sable Offshore will post -0.36 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SOC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Sable Offshore in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Roth Capital decreased their price target on shares of Sable Offshore from $22.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Sable Offshore from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Zacks Research cut Sable Offshore from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Sable Offshore in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sable Offshore has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.33.

Sable Offshore Company Profile

Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC) is an independent upstream oil and natural gas company specializing in offshore hydrocarbon exploration and production. The company identifies and secures exploration and development rights, conducts detailed seismic interpretation, and advances offshore prospects through appraisal and development phases. Its focus on the offshore environment drives investments in specialized drilling techniques, subsea infrastructure and production facility design.

Core business activities include offshore seismic surveys, the drilling of exploration and appraisal wells, installation and operation of production platforms or subsea systems, and well intervention services.