Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,815 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,433 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in STERIS were worth $16,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. West Coast Financial LLC lifted its stake in STERIS by 2.8% in the third quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in STERIS by 0.8% in the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 6,175 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,356,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in STERIS by 7.6% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 763 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in STERIS by 16.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its stake in STERIS by 3.2% in the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 1,916 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

STERIS Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:STE opened at $211.98 on Wednesday. STERIS plc has a 1-year low of $195.47 and a 1-year high of $248.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $229.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $228.66. The company has a market capitalization of $20.92 billion, a PE ratio of 48.40 and a beta of 0.85.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.02. STERIS had a return on equity of 13.78% and a net margin of 8.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that STERIS plc will post 9.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. STERIS’s payout ratio is presently 52.05%.

Insider Activity at STERIS

In related news, CFO Michael J. Tokich sold 23,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.00, for a total transaction of $5,763,004.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,603,710. This trade represents a 35.21 % 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 currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on STE. KeyCorp increased their price objective on STERIS from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of STERIS in a report on Friday, November 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a report on Monday. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, STERIS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.00.

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.