Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) Reaches New 12-Month High - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Sotera Health shares reached a new 52-week high at $16.74, demonstrating significant trading volume of 131,620 shares recently.
• Research ratings are mixed: Weiss Ratings issued a "sell" rating, while Barclays upgraded the stock to an "overweight" rating with a price target increase from $17.00 to $19.00.
• Insiders sold over 20 million shares of the company's stock in the last three months, indicating a notable decrease in their ownership stakes.

Sotera Health Company (NASDAQ:SHC - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $16.69 and last traded at $16.74, with a volume of 131620 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.16.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on SHC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Sotera Health in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sotera Health from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Sotera Health from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.20.

Sotera Health Price Performance

The firm's fifty day moving average price is $15.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 209.34 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $294.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $275.81 million. Sotera Health had a net margin of 2.14% and a return on equity of 39.42%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. Sotera Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.750-0.820 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sotera Health Company will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael P. Rutz sold 126,611 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.38, for a total value of $2,073,888.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 450,204 shares in the company, valued at $7,374,341.52. This represents a 21.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Pincus & Co. Warburg sold 12,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.11, for a total transaction of $181,320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 61,822,952 shares of the company's stock, valued at $934,144,804.72. This represents a 16.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,126,611 shares of company stock worth $304,273,888 over the last three months. Insiders own 55.12% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Sotera Health by 33.1% in the second quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,583 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Sotera Health by 4.1% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 23,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 933 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Sotera Health by 0.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 352,388 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Optimize Financial Inc grew 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 valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Sotera Health by 1.9% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 59,273 shares of the company's stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in 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.

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