Insider Selling: Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) Major Shareholder Sells 300,000 Shares of Stock

Sterling Check Corp. (NASDAQ:STER) major shareholder Melanie Laird sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $5,154,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,749,576 shares in the company, valued at $184,677,715.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Melanie Laird also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, September 20th, Melanie Laird sold 22,278 shares of Sterling Check stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.96, for a total transaction of $377,834.88.

Sterling Check Trading Down 1.2 %

STER stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $16.99. The company had a trading volume of 643,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 386,658. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.35 and a 200 day moving average of $15.69. Sterling Check Corp. has a 12 month low of $10.00 and a 12 month high of $17.35.

Sterling Check (NASDAQ:STER) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $200.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.81 million. Sterling Check had a positive return on equity of 7.73% and a negative net margin of 2.07%. Sterling Check’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Sterling Check Corp. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sterling Check

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new position in Sterling Check in the 1st quarter worth about $1,475,000. Alpine Associates Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sterling Check by 24.5% during the second quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 2,477,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,673,000 after purchasing an additional 487,600 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sterling Check by 38.3% during the second quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,628,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,103,000 after purchasing an additional 450,833 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Sterling Check during the first quarter valued at approximately $320,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sterling Check by 10.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 162,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,409,000 after purchasing an additional 15,085 shares in the last quarter. 84.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 report on Wednesday, September 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.20.

About Sterling Check

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.