STERIS plc $STE Stock Position Boosted by Machina Capital S.A.S.

Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its holdings in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 633.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,608 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,162 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in STERIS were worth $2,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of STERIS by 51.0% in the third quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 25,355 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $5,325,000 after purchasing an additional 8,560 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its holdings in STERIS by 109.7% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 20,978 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,417,000 after buying an additional 10,976 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in STERIS by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 177,778 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,335,000 after buying an additional 21,353 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in STERIS by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,048,636 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $231,883,000 after buying an additional 85,188 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in STERIS by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 69,157 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,524,000 after buying an additional 5,974 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of STERIS from an “overweight” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on STERIS from $269.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $275.00 price target (up from $270.00) on shares of STERIS in a report on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on STERIS from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded STERIS from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.33.

STERIS Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE:STE opened at $253.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.44. STERIS plc has a 1-year low of $195.14 and a 1-year high of $269.44. The company has a 50-day moving average of $222.55 and a 200 day moving average of $224.61. The firm has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 23.53 and a beta of 0.86.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.26. STERIS had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that STERIS plc will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.74%.

Insider Activity at STERIS

In related news, Director Mohsen Sohi sold 4,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.22, for a total value of $1,239,005.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 24,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,154,512.10. The trade was a 16.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen Burton sold 5,880 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.62, for a total transaction of $1,503,045.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,311,812.72. This trade represents a 31.22% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

About STERIS

STERIS plc (NYSE: STE) provides infection prevention and procedural products and services for healthcare, pharmaceutical, research, and other industries. Its offerings include sterilizers, washers and other equipment used to clean and sterilize medical devices and surgical instruments, as well as products for operating rooms and endoscopy procedures. The company also provides equipment installation, maintenance, repair, and training, along with contract sterilization and laboratory testing services.