Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) Stock Gets Downgrade from Wall Street Zen

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on SHC. Weiss Ratings upgraded Sotera Health from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Sotera Health in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. UBS Group set a $19.00 price target on Sotera Health in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Sotera Health in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Sotera Health from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.38.

Sotera Health Stock Performance

Shares of SHC opened at $17.89 on Friday. Sotera Health has a one year low of $13.09 and a one year high of $19.85. The company has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 21.26 and a beta of 1.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.67 and a 200-day moving average of $17.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.55.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $321.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $309.70 million. Sotera Health had a return on equity of 40.12% and a net margin of 13.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. Sotera Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.950-1.010 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sotera Health will post 0.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael P. Rutz sold 150,000 shares of Sotera Health stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.84, for a total transaction of $2,826,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 334,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,297,816.36. This trade represents a 30.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Michael B. Jr. Petras sold 850,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total value of $15,725,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 3,969,393 shares in the company, valued at $73,433,770.50. This represents a 17.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 1,294,515 shares of company stock worth $23,999,528 in the last quarter. 15.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sotera Health

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Sotera Health by 217.5% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Sotera Health during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Sotera Health in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Sotera Health by 150.8% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 2,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Sotera Health by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 5,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares in the last quarter. 91.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sotera Health Company Profile

Sotera Health Company (NASDAQ:SHC) is a global provider of healthcare services focused on sterilization, laboratory testing and infection prevention. The company serves medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology businesses, hospitals and other healthcare organizations.

Sotera Health operates through three primary businesses. Sterigenics provides outsourced sterilization and medical device services using technologies such as ethylene oxide, gamma irradiation and electron beam processing.