Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $15.30.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on STER. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Sterling Check in a report on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Sterling Check from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $16.50 target price (up previously from $14.00) on shares of Sterling Check in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, William Blair cut shares of Sterling Check from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

Sterling Check Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of STER opened at $15.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Sterling Check has a 12-month low of $10.00 and a 12-month high of $16.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01 and a beta of 0.47.

Sterling Check (NASDAQ:STER) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.03). Sterling Check had a negative net margin of 0.02% and a positive return on equity of 9.47%. The firm had revenue of $169.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.07 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sterling Check will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Sterling Check

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Sterling Check by 11.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,117,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,062,000 after purchasing an additional 943,308 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Sterling Check by 46.7% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,495,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,448,000 after buying an additional 475,838 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Sterling Check during the third quarter worth approximately $3,803,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Sterling Check by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 3,872 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sterling Check by 13.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,979,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,600,000 after buying an additional 356,649 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.