Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) Stock Falls 5.8% – Time to Sell?

Sotera Health Company (NASDAQ:SHC)’s share price was down 5.8% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $16.46 and last traded at $16.7060. 387,499 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 2,679,050 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.74.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SHC shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sotera Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Sotera Health from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Sotera Health from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Sotera Health in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Sotera Health from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sotera Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.38.

Sotera Health Trading Down 6.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.33. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 1.85. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.03.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.02. Sotera Health had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 40.12%. The company had revenue of $324.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $319.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Sotera Health Company will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Sotera Health

In other Sotera Health news, Chairman Michael Petras, Jr. sold 850,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total transaction of $15,725,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 3,969,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,433,770.50. This trade represents a 17.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael Rutz sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.84, for a total value of $2,826,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 334,279 shares in the company, valued at $6,297,816.36. This trade represents a 30.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,294,515 shares of company stock worth $23,999,528. 15.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sotera Health

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SHC. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Sotera Health in the third quarter valued at about $579,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Sotera Health in the third quarter worth about $220,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Sotera Health by 9.3% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 35,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $636,000 after buying an additional 2,996 shares during the last quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sotera Health during the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Sotera Health by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 59,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after buying an additional 4,300 shares in the last quarter. 91.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sotera Health Company Profile

Sotera Health Company (NASDAQ: SHC) is a healthcare services company focused on sterilization, laboratory testing and infection prevention. Its services support manufacturers and providers across the medical device, pharmaceutical, tissue, food safety and other healthcare-related industries.

The company operates through three primary businesses. Sterigenics provides outsourced sterilization services, including ethylene oxide, gamma irradiation and electron-beam processing. Nelson Labs offers laboratory testing, analytical services and consulting for medical devices, pharmaceuticals and other healthcare products.