STERIS plc $STE Stock Holdings Increased by Atom Investors LP

Atom Investors LP lifted its stake in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 63.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 25,427 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,834 shares during the quarter. Atom Investors LP’s holdings in STERIS were worth $6,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of STERIS by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,286,535 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $3,114,882,000 after purchasing an additional 73,014 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of STERIS by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,614,840 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,169,957,000 after purchasing an additional 260,001 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of STERIS by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,523,620 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $637,259,000 after purchasing an additional 14,151 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in shares of STERIS by 36.0% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,100,099 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $504,486,000 after purchasing an additional 556,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of STERIS by 16.4% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,567,238 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $387,797,000 after purchasing an additional 221,199 shares in the last quarter. 94.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Daniel A. Carestio sold 3,054 shares of STERIS stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.64, for a total value of $655,510.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,956,107.44. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Richard C. Breeden sold 1,481 shares of STERIS stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.51, for a total transaction of $310,284.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 38,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,163,347.64. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 7,328 shares of company stock valued at $1,554,051 over the last 90 days. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of STERIS from $291.00 to $269.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of STERIS from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

STERIS Price Performance

Shares of STE opened at $206.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.06 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $215.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.09. STERIS plc has a twelve month low of $195.14 and a twelve month high of $269.44.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.86 by ($0.03). STERIS had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.74 EPS. STERIS’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. STERIS has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.300 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that STERIS plc will post 11.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.78%.

STERIS Profile

STERIS Corporation (NYSE: STE) is a global provider of infection prevention, contamination control and procedural products and services for the healthcare, life sciences, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. The company develops, manufactures and supports a broad portfolio of equipment and consumables designed to reduce risk of infection, maintain sterile environments and support critical clinical and manufacturing procedures.

Its offerings include sterilization and decontamination systems, instrument washers and washers-disinfectors, endoscope reprocessing solutions, surgical equipment and procedural disposables, and contamination-control products for cleanrooms and laboratories.