Richard Breeden Sells 1,481 Shares of STERIS (NYSE:STE) Stock

STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) Director Richard 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 sale, the director directly owned 38,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,163,347.64. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

STERIS Trading Down 0.1%

STE opened at $212.13 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $20.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.09. STERIS plc has a fifty-two week low of $195.14 and a fifty-two week high of $269.44.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. STERIS had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 13.18%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.74 earnings per share. STERIS has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.300 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that STERIS plc will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

STERIS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid 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 is Monday, June 8th. STERIS’s payout ratio is 31.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On STERIS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of STERIS by 0.6% in 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 buying an additional 73,014 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of STERIS by 6.0% during 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 14,151 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased 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 acquiring an additional 120,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of STERIS by 25.7% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,863,139 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $411,995,000 after acquiring an additional 380,504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of STERIS from $291.00 to $269.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of STERIS in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of STERIS from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

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.