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

Sotera Health Company (NASDAQ:SHC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 10,539,768 shares, a growth of 19.4% from the February 26th total of 8,825,205 shares. Currently, 8.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 4,435,002 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Sotera Health from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $17.00 to $24.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. William Blair started coverage on Sotera Health in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Zacks Research lowered Sotera Health from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Sotera Health to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Sotera Health in a report on Thursday, January 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gtcr Investment Xi Llc sold 10,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.27, for a total value of $152,700,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,735,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,468,046.27. This represents a 43.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 47.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sotera Health

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Sotera Health during the 4th quarter worth $833,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Sotera Health by 217.4% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $773,000 after purchasing an additional 30,373 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sotera Health by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 32,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $568,000 after buying an additional 8,993 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sotera Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $339,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sotera Health by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 519,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,167,000 after buying an additional 182,069 shares in the last quarter. 91.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sotera Health Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of SHC stock opened at $14.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.08 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $15.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.55. Sotera Health has a fifty-two week low of $9.53 and a fifty-two week high of $19.85.

Sotera Health (NASDAQ:SHC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. Sotera Health had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 42.38%. The firm had revenue of $303.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sotera Health has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.930-1.01 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Sotera Health will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sotera Health Company Profile

Sotera Health Inc (NASDAQ: SHC) is a global provider of sterilization and laboratory testing services that support the medical device, pharmaceutical, life sciences and consumer product industries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a suite of services designed to ensure products meet rigorous safety and regulatory requirements before reaching market.

Sotera Health operates through three primary service platforms. Its Sterigenics division delivers contract sterilization solutions, including ethylene oxide (EtO), gamma irradiation, electron beam and X-ray technologies.