Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Holdings in STERIS plc $STE

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 51.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,602 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,282 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in STERIS were worth $3,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of STERIS in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of STERIS by 115.4% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 112 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of STERIS by 423.8% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of STERIS during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of STERIS by 416.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 129 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at STERIS

In other news, Director Richard C. Breeden sold 1,481 shares of the company’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 $8,163,347.64. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $209.28, for a total value of $296,968.32. Following the transaction, the vice president 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 7,328 shares of company stock worth $1,554,051 in the last quarter. 1.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STE has been the subject of a number of 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 lowered their price objective on STERIS from $291.00 to $269.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, STERIS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

STERIS Stock Performance

STE opened at $202.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $213.54 and a 200 day moving average of $234.17. STERIS plc has a fifty-two week low of $195.14 and a fifty-two week high of $269.44. 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 (NYSE:STE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by ($0.03). The company 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 business’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.74 earnings per share. STERIS has set its FY 2027 guidance at 11.100-11.300 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that STERIS plc will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 presently 31.78%.

About STERIS

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.