Hilltop Holdings Inc. Invests $218,000 in STERIS plc (NYSE:STE)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of STERIS plc (NYSE:STE) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 898 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STE. 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 purchasing an additional 778,613 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in STERIS by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,150,517 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $251,663,000 after acquiring an additional 263,383 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in STERIS by 9.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,114,224 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $270,230,000 after acquiring an additional 96,336 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in STERIS by 12.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 840,194 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $184,439,000 after acquiring an additional 95,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in STERIS by 1.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 801,144 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $194,309,000 after acquiring an additional 12,005 shares in the last quarter. 94.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Cary L. Majors sold 1,682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.32, for a total value of $365,532.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,363.04. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Tokich sold 23,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.00, for a total value of $5,763,004.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,930 shares in the company, valued at $10,603,710. This represents a 35.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on STE shares. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of STERIS in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of STERIS in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of STERIS in a research report on Friday, November 8th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of STERIS from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of STERIS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, STERIS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $262.50.

STERIS Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE STE opened at $215.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.29 and a beta of 0.83. STERIS plc has a 52 week low of $197.82 and a 52 week high of $248.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $222.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

STERIS (NYSE:STE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that STERIS plc will post 9.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STERIS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. STERIS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.05%.

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.