GLNG Short Sellers Ease Off as Activist Stake Dominates Ownership

Short positioning is genuine but easing. Short interest ran at 8.8% of the free float on October 6, which is meaningful but down slightly on the week and on the day after a sharper build through September. The month-on-month increase of 15.4% tells the more interesting story: shorts added materially through September, pushing the position from roughly 7.7 million shares to just over 9 million in the space of a few trading days around September 22 to 24. That build has since stabilised. The borrow market is not stressed. Cost to borrow is 0.51%, well within the "easy" range, and availability is extremely loose at over 618% of short interest, meaning there are roughly six shares available to lend for every one already borrowed. Borrow availability has been expanding over the past week. There is no squeeze tension here.

Options positioning has rotated more defensive over the past month, and that rotation is the sharpest single-period move in the dataset. The put/call ratio is 0.83, above its 20-day average of 0.68 but only about two-thirds of a standard deviation from that mean, so the shift is notable without being extreme. The bigger story is the PCR trajectory: it was below 0.40 through most of August and early September, then jumped above 0.83 by late September and has held there since. That cluster of put-buying aligns roughly with the September short-interest build, suggesting a pocket of investors was hedging or repositioning during that period rather than expressing outright conviction.

The Street is constructive but the stock is trading well below where analysts think it should be. BTIG's Gregory Lewis raised his target to $75 in late September, maintaining a Buy rating, the second upward revision from that desk in 2026. The consensus mean target across the analyst panel is $66.28, against a close of $50.03, implying the Street on average sees around 32% upside from here. Bulls point to Q2 adjusted EBITDA coming in roughly 16% above estimates, a cash position of about $908 million, and a positive final investment decision on a fourth FLNG unit delivering in 2029. Bears cite a tougher demand backdrop: Asian LNG imports fell around 7% below the five-year average in Q2, with China down 18% against that benchmark, and EU storage running about 15% below year-ago levels. The EV/EBITDA multiple is around 24x, having crept up slightly on the week and month. The ORTEX short score has eased from 62 at the start of October to just under 60, suggesting the short-interest conviction has softened alongside the slight position reduction.

On the alternative data side, Wikipedia page views for Golar spiked sharply relative to the stock's own 90-day history around September 22, with a z-score of 3.4, indicating an unusual burst of retail attention at that point. The dataset has no measured relationship with Golar's reported financials, so it is colour rather than signal, but the timing sits squarely in the middle of the September short-interest build and PCR jump, consistent with a period when the stock was attracting broader attention.

Earnings are due November 6, thirty days out. The last print in August produced a 2.8% single-day gain and a 2.1% five-day gain. The one before that, in August as well per the filing dates, showed a 1.4% one-day decline and a 3.5% five-day loss. With the activist position established, two large passive holders adding shares, and short interest stabilised after a notable September build, the print will land into a relatively concentrated ownership structure where the activist's posture and any update on the FLNG pipeline will be the sharpest focus for positioning changes.