Wall Street Zen Downgrades Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) to Hold

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on SHC. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Sotera Health from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Sotera Health from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Sotera Health from $16.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $15.80.

Sotera Health Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SHC traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $12.30. 1,729,389 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,219,150. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.20 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.91, a quick ratio of 2.61 and a current ratio of 2.88. Sotera Health has a one year low of $9.53 and a one year high of $17.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.79 and a 200 day moving average of $12.54.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $254.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.56 million. Sotera Health had a return on equity of 42.27% and a net margin of 6.31%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sotera Health will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Sotera Health

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Sotera Health in the first quarter worth about $1,003,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Sotera Health by 125.5% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 25,192 shares of the company's stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 14,018 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Sotera Health by 14.5% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 342,934 shares of the company's stock worth $3,999,000 after buying an additional 43,471 shares in the last quarter. Optimize Financial Inc increased its position in Sotera Health by 7.7% in the first quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 14,545 shares of the company's stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Sotera Health by 11.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,512 shares of the company's stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 2,845 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.03% of the company's stock.

About Sotera Health

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.