Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,610,000 shares, a drop of 18.7% from the November 30th total of 8,130,000 shares. Currently, 4.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SHC shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Sotera Health in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Sotera Health from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Sotera Health in a research report on Friday, December 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sotera Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.08.

Sotera Health Stock Up 1.9 %

Sotera Health stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $13.62. The company had a trading volume of 303,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,326,951. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $14.17 and its 200-day moving average is $14.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.48 and a beta of 1.96. Sotera Health has a fifty-two week low of $10.71 and a fifty-two week high of $17.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.91, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.61.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.01). Sotera Health had a return on equity of 42.27% and a net margin of 6.31%. The firm had revenue of $285.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $278.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Sotera Health will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darsana Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Sotera Health by 716.9% during the third quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 20,010,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,167,000 after purchasing an additional 17,560,636 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its stake in shares of Sotera Health by 46.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 6,300,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,220,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Sotera Health by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,126,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,918,000 after acquiring an additional 644,236 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sotera Health by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,497,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,406,000 after acquiring an additional 118,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sotera Health by 19.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,755,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,026,000 after acquiring an additional 447,186 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.