Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in STERIS plc $STE

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 890,562 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,226 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in STERIS were worth $196,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in STERIS by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,286,535 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,114,882,000 after purchasing an additional 73,014 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of STERIS by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,614,840 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,169,957,000 after buying an additional 260,001 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of STERIS by 0.6% during 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 buying an additional 14,151 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its position in shares of STERIS by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,249,511 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $570,296,000 after buying an additional 120,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of STERIS by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,623,234 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $411,522,000 after buying an additional 440,164 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at STERIS

In other news, Director Richard C. Breeden sold 1,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP John Adam Zangerle sold 1,419 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.28, for a total value of $296,968.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 35,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,379,003.52. This trade represents a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,328 shares of company stock worth $1,554,051. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of STERIS in a report on Thursday, May 21st. KeyCorp dropped their target price 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of STERIS from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

STERIS Stock Down 4.1%

STERIS stock opened at $208.15 on Wednesday. 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 one year low of $195.14 and a one year high of $269.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $211.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.25 and a beta of 0.92.

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). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. STERIS had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.74 earnings per share. 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 year.

STERIS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. STERIS’s payout ratio is 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.