Analysts Set Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) Target Price at $16.20

Shares of Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.20.

Separately, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Sterling Check from $16.20 to $17.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th.

Sterling Check Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of STER stock opened at $17.66 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. Sterling Check has a 1 year low of $10.00 and a 1 year high of $18.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -103.88 and a beta of 0.49.

Sterling Check (NASDAQ:STER) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.04). Sterling Check had a positive return on equity of 7.73% and a negative net margin of 2.07%. The firm had revenue of $200.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sterling Check will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Sterling Check

In other Sterling Check news, major shareholder Melanie Laird sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total value of $5,154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,749,576 shares in the company, valued at $184,677,715.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sterling Check

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in Sterling Check by 7,540.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 2,639 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Sterling Check by 10.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 1,372 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sterling Check in the third quarter worth $218,000. Blackstone Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sterling Check in the first quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sterling Check in the first quarter worth $320,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.34% of the company’s stock.

Sterling Check Company Profile

Sterling Check Corp. provides technology-enabled background and identity verification services in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers identity verification services, such as telecom and device verification, identification document verification, facial recognition with biometric matching, social security number verification, and live video chat identification proofing; fingerprinting; background checks, including criminal record checks, sex offender registries, civil court records, motor vehicle and driving license records, executive investigations, credit reports, social media searches, and contingent workforce solutions; liens, judgments, and bankruptcies; and sanctions, risk, and compliance checks.