Benjamin Edwards Inc. Boosts Stake in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 2,123.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 113,672 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,559 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in STERIS were worth $27,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. West Coast Financial LLC increased its holdings in STERIS by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in STERIS by 0.8% in the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 6,175 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,356,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in STERIS by 7.6% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 763 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $172,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in STERIS by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. increased its position in shares of STERIS by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 1,916 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 94.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on STE. StockNews.com lowered STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on STERIS from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of STERIS from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $230.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of STERIS in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, STERIS currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.00.

STERIS Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:STE opened at $219.06 on Monday. STERIS plc has a 12-month low of $195.47 and a 12-month high of $248.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $228.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.01 and a beta of 0.85.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.02. STERIS had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 13.78%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that STERIS plc will post 9.15 EPS for the current year.

STERIS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. STERIS’s payout ratio is currently 52.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at STERIS

In other news, CFO Michael J. Tokich sold 23,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.00, for a total value of $5,763,004.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,603,710. This represents a 35.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Cary L. Majors sold 1,682 shares of STERIS stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.32, for a total transaction of $365,532.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,363.04. This represents a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About STERIS

STERIS plc provides infection prevention products and services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Healthcare, Applied Sterilization Technologies, Life Sciences, and Dental. The Healthcare segment offers cleaning chemistries and sterility assurance products; automated endoscope reprocessing system and tracking products; endoscopy accessories, washers, sterilizers, and other pieces of capital equipment for the operation of a sterile processing department; and equipment used directly in the operating room, including surgical tables, lights, and connectivity solutions, as well as equipment management services.