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

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

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

Institutional Trading of Sterling Check

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Sterling Check by 11.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,117,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,062,000 after acquiring an additional 943,308 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Sterling Check by 46.7% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,495,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,448,000 after acquiring an additional 475,838 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Sterling Check by 13.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,979,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,600,000 after acquiring an additional 356,649 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Sterling Check in the third quarter valued at about $3,803,000. Finally, Sunriver Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sterling Check by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Sunriver Management LLC now owns 1,107,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,419,000 after acquiring an additional 209,823 shares during the period. 84.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sterling Check Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:STER opened at $15.33 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. Sterling Check has a one year low of $10.00 and a one year high of $16.68. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01 and a beta of 0.47.

Sterling Check (NASDAQ:STER) last posted 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 positive return on equity of 9.47% and a negative net margin of 0.02%. The company had revenue of $169.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.07 million. Analysts anticipate that Sterling Check will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal 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.