Sit Investment Associates Inc. Sells 125 Shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. lowered its position in shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,060 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in STERIS were worth $2,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of STERIS by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,525,769 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $2,786,586,000 after purchasing an additional 143,253 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in STERIS by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 5,492,005 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,240,040,000 after buying an additional 33,281 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in STERIS by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,229,089 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,022,467,000 after buying an additional 17,292 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in STERIS by 70.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,756,454 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $693,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556,136 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of STERIS by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,364,283 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $436,660,000 after acquiring an additional 107,474 shares during the last quarter. 92.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on STE shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of STERIS from $206.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of STERIS in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. KeyCorp increased their target price on STERIS from $254.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of STERIS from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of STERIS in a research report on Thursday, November 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, STERIS presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.60.

STERIS Stock Performance

Shares of STE opened at $203.53 on Thursday. STERIS plc has a 52 week low of $163.53 and a 52 week high of $254.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $219.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.16.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 7th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.02). STERIS had a return on equity of 13.58% and a net margin of 10.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that STERIS plc will post 8.7 EPS for the current year.

STERIS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 20th. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.61%.

STERIS Company Profile

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.