14,618 Shares of STERIS plc $STE Acquired by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 14,618 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,070,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in STERIS by 21.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,502,897 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $737,605,000 after purchasing an additional 629,532 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in STERIS by 25.7% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,863,139 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $411,995,000 after buying an additional 380,504 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in STERIS by 4.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,113,845 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $246,295,000 after buying an additional 46,391 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in STERIS by 43.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 771,092 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $170,512,000 after buying an additional 232,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in STERIS by 20.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 519,511 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $114,879,000 after buying an additional 88,872 shares in the last quarter. 94.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on STE. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of STERIS from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of STERIS from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, November 9th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $275.00 target price (up from $270.00) on shares of STERIS in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of STERIS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $232.00 to $305.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of STERIS from $269.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.50.

STERIS Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of STE stock traded up $10.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $263.76. The company had a trading volume of 984,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 854,915. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.05. STERIS plc has a twelve month low of $195.14 and a twelve month high of $269.44. The company has a market capitalization of $25.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.29 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $223.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.61.

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

STERIS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.74%.

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.