Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) by 14.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 354,025 shares of the company’s stock after selling 60,807 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Sotera Health were worth $5,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in Sotera Health by 6.5% during the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 10,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Sotera Health by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 14,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Sotera Health by 86.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Sotera Health by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 195,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Sotera Health by 125.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. 91.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Sotera Health

In other news, Director Gtcr Investment Xi Llc sold 10,000,000 shares of Sotera Health stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 49,215,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $739,705,974.03. The trade was a 16.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 55.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SHC. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Sotera Health from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup increased their target price on Sotera Health from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Sotera Health in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.50.

Sotera Health Price Performance

Shares of SHC opened at $13.21 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.94. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 52.84 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.91. Sotera Health has a 1-year low of $10.71 and a 1-year high of $17.44.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $285.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $278.64 million. Sotera Health had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 42.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sotera Health will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

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.