London Co. of Virginia Cuts Position in STERIS plc $STE

London Co. of Virginia decreased its position in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 740,436 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 49,635 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia’s holdings in STERIS were worth $187,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STE. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in STERIS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $320,298,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in STERIS by 178.6% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,183,070 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $291,704,000 after purchasing an additional 758,423 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in STERIS in the third quarter valued at approximately $158,982,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its position in 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 valued at $504,486,000 after purchasing an additional 556,088 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in STERIS by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,614,840 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,169,957,000 after purchasing an additional 260,001 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

STERIS Stock Up 0.3%

STERIS stock opened at $206.64 on Wednesday. STERIS plc has a twelve month low of $195.14 and a twelve month high of $269.44. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.06 and a beta of 0.93.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by ($0.03). STERIS had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 13.18%.The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.74 EPS. The firm’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, equities analysts expect that STERIS plc will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. 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 is currently 31.78%.

Insider Transactions at STERIS

In other news, VP John Adam Zangerle sold 1,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.28, for a total transaction of $296,968.32. Following the sale, the vice president owned 35,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,379,003.52. This represents a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Richard C. Breeden sold 1,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.51, for a total value of $310,284.31. Following the sale, the director directly owned 38,964 shares in the company, valued at $8,163,347.64. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,328 shares of company stock valued at $1,554,051. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

STERIS Company 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.