Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC Sells 600 Shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE)

Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,417 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC’s holdings in STERIS were worth $5,437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in STERIS by 13.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,442,805 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,414,453,000 after buying an additional 778,613 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in STERIS by 7,418.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 309,771 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $75,132,000 after buying an additional 305,651 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its holdings in STERIS by 23.5% during the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,485,578 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $333,988,000 after buying an additional 282,387 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in STERIS by 29.7% during the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,150,517 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $251,663,000 after buying an additional 263,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in STERIS by 1,946.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 270,311 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $59,344,000 after buying an additional 257,101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STE has been the topic of several research reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of STERIS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of STERIS from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $230.00 to $260.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of STERIS from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.00.

STERIS Price Performance

STE opened at $224.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.67 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $234.76 and a 200 day moving average of $226.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.33. STERIS plc has a fifty-two week low of $195.47 and a fifty-two week high of $248.24.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. STERIS had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that STERIS plc will post 9.06 EPS for the current year.

STERIS Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. This is a positive change from STERIS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher S. Holland sold 473 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.68, for a total value of $113,368.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,493.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Christopher S. Holland sold 473 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.68, for a total value of $113,368.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,493.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Tokich sold 23,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,603,710. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

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.