Analyzing Short Interest in ConocoPhillips Stock

On June 30, 2017, ConocoPhillips’ (COP) total shares shorted, also known as short interest, stood at ~30.0 million. Its average daily volume was ~8.2 million. As a result, the short interest ratio in COP stock is ~3.7x. The 52-week range for the short interest ratio in COP’s stock is about 1.8x–3.7x.

Current short interest in COP stock as a percentage of its shares outstanding is ~2.7%. Short interest in its stock as a percentage of shares is on the lower side in comparison to other upstream companies in the SPDR S&P Oil and Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP).

Since January 2017, short interest in ConocoPhillips stock as a percentage of its shares outstanding has risen from ~1.2% to ~2.7%, despite an ~12% decrease in its stock price.

Form 13F is a SEC mandate that must be submitted by all institutional investors who manage more than $100 million in assets. In 1Q17, 521 funds filed as buyers of ConocoPhillips (COP) stock, and 621 funds were sellers of COP. In 1Q17, the number of selling funds outnumbered total buying funds by 174.

On March 31, 2017, 1,282 13F filers held ConocoPhillips (COP) stock in their portfolios. However, only 19 filers featured COP in their top ten holdings.

On June 30, 2017, upstream companies Cobalt International Energy (CIE), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), and EOG Resources (EOG) had short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding of ~13.5%, ~1.4%, and ~1.6%, respectively. The Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3X ETF (ERX) is a leveraged ETF that invests in domestic companies from the energy sector.