STERIS plc $STE Shares Sold by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB reduced its position in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 15.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 228,028 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 43,050 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in STERIS were worth $50,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in STE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of STERIS in the 4th quarter worth $320,298,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 758,423 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in STERIS in the third quarter valued at about $158,982,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings 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 worth $504,486,000 after acquiring an additional 556,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,169,957,000 after acquiring an additional 260,001 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Daniel A. Carestio sold 3,054 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $13,956,107.44. This represents a 4.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP John Adam Zangerle sold 1,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 35,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,379,003.52. This represents a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,328 shares of company stock worth $1,554,051. 1.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

STERIS Stock Performance

Shares of STE stock opened at $215.46 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $211.58 and a 200 day moving average of $231.13. STERIS plc has a 1 year low of $195.14 and a 1 year high of $269.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17 and a beta of 0.92.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. STERIS had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.74 EPS. 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 earnings per share for the current year.

STERIS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio 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.