Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH Buys Shares of 644 STERIS plc $STE

Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new stake in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 644 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $155,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of STERIS by 3.5% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of STERIS by 16.5% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 395 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of STERIS by 1.0% during the first quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 6,280 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,423,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of STERIS by 0.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,999 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,586,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC increased its position in shares of STERIS by 4.7% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on STE. Wall Street Zen raised STERIS from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on STERIS from $276.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on STERIS from $277.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of STERIS in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, STERIS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.50.

Insider Activity at STERIS

In other STERIS news, CAO Karen L. Burton sold 7,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.73, for a total transaction of $1,909,667.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 5,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,448,929.62. This trade represents a 56.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia L. Feldmann sold 3,495 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.56, for a total value of $844,252.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,299.80. The trade was a 83.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,868 shares of company stock valued at $4,585,389. Corporate insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

STERIS Stock Performance

NYSE:STE opened at $235.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a PE ratio of 36.09 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $244.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.53. STERIS plc has a 12 month low of $200.98 and a 12 month high of $253.00.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. STERIS had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.61%.STERIS’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that STERIS plc will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. This is a positive change from STERIS’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio is 38.59%.

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.