Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) Trading Down 6.5% - Here's Why

Shares of Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Get Free Report) fell 6.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $14.22 and last traded at $14.77. 101,509 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 1,298,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sotera Health from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Sotera Health in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.70.

Sotera Health Trading Down 2.4 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 110.14 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.46, a quick ratio of 2.59 and a current ratio of 2.93. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $15.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.67.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.04. Sotera Health had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 47.26%. The business had revenue of $277.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $266.45 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. Sotera Health's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sotera Health will post 0.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gtcr Investment Xi Llc sold 10,000,000 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,215,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $739,705,974.03. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 55.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sotera Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Sotera Health by 43.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,892,868 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,865,000 after acquiring an additional 4,525,056 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sotera Health by 27.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,145,110 shares of the company's stock worth $145,863,000 after acquiring an additional 2,579,248 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in Sotera Health in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,074,000. Khrom Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sotera Health in the 1st quarter worth $14,626,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sotera Health by 3,198.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 511,580 shares of the company's stock worth $6,072,000 after purchasing an additional 496,069 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.03% of the company's stock.

Sotera Health Company 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.