Brokerages Set Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) Price Target at $15.30

Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.20.

Separately, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Sterling Check from $16.20 to $17.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th.

Insider Activity at Sterling Check

In other Sterling Check news, insider Lou Paglia sold 17,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.19, for a total transaction of $266,219.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 618,331 shares in the company, valued at $9,392,447.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 9.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sterling Check

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Sterling Check by 10.7% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Sterling Check by 4.2% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 48,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,000 after buying an additional 1,940 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Sterling Check by 7,540.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 2,639 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Sterling Check by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 56,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackstone Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sterling Check during the first quarter worth about $220,000. 84.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sterling Check Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of STER stock opened at $16.66 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -166.60 and a beta of 0.48. Sterling Check has a twelve month low of $10.00 and a twelve month high of $17.05.

Sterling Check (NASDAQ:STER) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $200.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.81 million. Sterling Check had a negative net margin of 2.07% and a positive return on equity of 7.73%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sterling Check will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Sterling Check Company Profile

Sterling Check Corp. provides technology-enabled background and identity verification services in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers identity verification services, such as telecom and device verification, identification document verification, facial recognition with biometric matching, social security number verification, and live video chat identification proofing; fingerprinting; background checks, including criminal record checks, sex offender registries, civil court records, motor vehicle and driving license records, executive investigations, credit reports, social media searches, and contingent workforce solutions; liens, judgments, and bankruptcies; and sanctions, risk, and compliance checks.