Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) Short Interest Update

Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a drop of 23.0% from the February 29th total of 1,390,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 527,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STER has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $16.50 target price (up from $14.00) on shares of Sterling Check in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Sterling Check from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. William Blair downgraded Sterling Check from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Sterling Check in a report on Friday, March 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.30.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sterling Check

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STER. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Sterling Check by 175.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Sterling Check by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Sterling Check by 129.0% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in Sterling Check by 1,684.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Sterling Check in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Institutional investors own 84.34% of the company’s stock.

Sterling Check Trading Down 0.9 %

Sterling Check stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $16.08. 765,202 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,108,572. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.41. Sterling Check has a twelve month low of $10.00 and a twelve month high of $16.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 0.47.

Sterling Check (NASDAQ:STER) last released 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). The company had revenue of $169.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.07 million. Sterling Check had a positive return on equity of 9.47% and a negative net margin of 0.02%. Research analysts predict that Sterling Check will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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.