Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Free Report) by 14.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 354,025 shares of the company's stock after selling 60,807 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Sotera Health worth $5,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sotera Health by 86.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Sotera Health by 125.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,988 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its stake in Sotera Health by 556.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 6,540 shares of the company's stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 5,544 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sotera Health by 728.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,381 shares of the company's stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 8,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sotera Health in the third quarter valued at $163,000. Institutional investors own 91.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gtcr Investment Xi Llc sold 10,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.03, for a total transaction of $150,300,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,215,301 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $739,705,974.03. This represents a 16.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 55.12% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SHC. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Sotera Health from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Sotera Health in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Sotera Health from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sotera Health has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $16.50.

Sotera Health Price Performance

Sotera Health stock opened at $13.21 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 52.84 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.91. Sotera Health has a 12-month low of $10.71 and a 12-month high of $17.44.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $285.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $278.64 million. Sotera Health had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 42.27%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sotera Health will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Sotera Health Profile

Sotera Health Company engages in the provision of sterilization, lab testing, and advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Sterigenics, Nordion, and Nelson Labs. It provides mission-critical end-to-end sterilization services, including gamma and electron beam irradiation, and ethylene oxide processing, as well as designs, installs, and maintains gamma irradiation systems.