Analyzing the Short Interest in Southwestern Energy Stock

As of August 14, 2017, Southwestern Energy’s (SWN) total shares shorted (or short interest) stood at ~45.89 million, while its average daily volume is ~17.44 million. The short interest ratio for Southwestern Energy stock is ~2.63x. Southwestern Energy’s average daily volume is calculated for the short interest reporting period on August 1–14, 2017

• Southwestern Energy stock’s short interest ratio has a 52-week high of 6.20x and a 52-week low of 2.38x.
• Southwestern Energy stock’s short interest as a percentage of its 20-day average volume, 90-day average volume, and 180-day average volume is 2.98x, 2.43x, and 2.60x, respectively.
• From the perspective of shares outstanding, the current short interest in Southwestern Energy stock as a percentage of shares outstanding is ~8.3%.
• The short interest in Southwestern Energy stock as a percentage of shares outstanding is in the middle of the range compared to many other upstream stocks from the SPDR S&P Oil and Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP).
• As you can see in the above chart, the short interest in Southwestern Energy stock as a percentage of shares outstanding has fallen from ~10.3% to ~8.3% in 2017, despite an ~52% fall in Southwestern Energy’s stock price during the same period. To learn more about how Southwestern Energy stock performed recently, read Part 1 of this series.

As of August 14, 2017, oil and gas exploration and production companies California Resources (CRC), W&T Offshore (WTI), and Marathon Oil (MRO) have short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding of ~38.3%, ~5.3%, and ~4.3%, respectively. Just like Southwestern Energy, W&T Offshore (WTI) saw a decrease in its short interest in the past month. The Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3X ETF (ERX) is a leveraged ETF that invests in domestic companies from the energy sector.

In the next part, we’ll look at Wall Street’s recent ratings for Southwestern Energy stock.