Huntington National Bank Sells 261 Shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE)

Huntington National Bank decreased its holdings in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 30.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 598 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 261 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in STERIS were worth $145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of STE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in STERIS by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,442,805 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,414,453,000 after buying an additional 778,613 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of STERIS by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,738,630 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $390,880,000 after acquiring an additional 120,616 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of STERIS by 29.7% in the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,150,517 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $251,663,000 after acquiring an additional 263,383 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of STERIS by 9.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,114,224 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $270,230,000 after purchasing an additional 96,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in STERIS by 1.8% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 960,219 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $215,879,000 after purchasing an additional 16,632 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at STERIS

In other news, CFO Michael J. Tokich sold 23,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.00, for a total transaction of $5,763,004.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,603,710. This represents a 35.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of STERIS from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of STERIS in a report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler raised shares of STERIS from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com cut STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of STERIS in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, STERIS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.00.

STERIS Stock Down 0.5 %

STE opened at $220.12 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $21.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.26 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $230.37 and its 200 day moving average is $228.42. STERIS plc has a fifty-two week low of $195.47 and a fifty-two week high of $248.24.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. STERIS had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 13.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that STERIS plc will post 9.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. STERIS’s payout ratio is presently 52.05%.

STERIS Profile

STERIS plc provides infection prevention products and services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Healthcare, Applied Sterilization Technologies, Life Sciences, and Dental. The Healthcare segment offers cleaning chemistries and sterility assurance products; automated endoscope reprocessing system and tracking products; endoscopy accessories, washers, sterilizers, and other pieces of capital equipment for the operation of a sterile processing department; and equipment used directly in the operating room, including surgical tables, lights, and connectivity solutions, as well as equipment management services.