Oak Thistle LLC Buys 7,175 Shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE)

Oak Thistle LLC boosted its stake in shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 593.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,385 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,175 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in STERIS were worth $1,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of STERIS during the 2nd quarter valued at $227,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in STERIS by 76.3% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 282 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in STERIS by 1.9% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 33,327 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $7,216,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of STERIS by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,555 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of STERIS by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 573,653 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $125,940,000 after purchasing an additional 30,246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler raised shares of STERIS from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $260.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of STERIS in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of STERIS in a research report on Monday, November 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Cary L. Majors sold 1,682 shares of STERIS stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $2,471,363.04. This trade represents a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

STERIS Stock Performance

STE opened at $207.41 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.35 and a beta of 0.84. STERIS plc has a 1-year low of $197.82 and a 1-year high of $248.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $225.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.55.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. STERIS had a return on equity of 13.78% and a net margin of 8.02%. STERIS’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that STERIS plc will post 9.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.05%.

STERIS 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.