Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Buys 95,549 Shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,177,981 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 95,549 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 1.10% of DENTSPLY SIRONA worth $41,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XRAY. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,183,260 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $383,078,000 after acquiring an additional 65,478 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 14,500,409 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $275,218,000 after purchasing an additional 348,532 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC raised its stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,545,981 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $257,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,708,097 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 9,172,876 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $174,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,056,774 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $245,076,000 after purchasing an additional 436,031 shares during the period. 95.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Trading Down 4.5 %

Shares of XRAY opened at $14.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.21, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.84. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.78 and a 1-year high of $33.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.62 and a 200 day moving average of $20.19.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. DENTSPLY SIRONA’s payout ratio is -14.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on XRAY shares. StockNews.com cut shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barrington Research cut their target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.33.

Insider Activity at DENTSPLY SIRONA

In other news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 15,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $16.51 per share, with a total value of $249,994.42. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 81,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,341.21. This trade represents a 22.66 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Company Profile

DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc manufactures and sells various dental products and technologies worldwide. It operates in four segments: Connected Technology Solutions, Essential Dental Solutions, Orthodontic and Implant Solutions, and Wellspect Healthcare. The company offers dental equipment comprising imaging equipment, motorized dental handpieces, treatment centers, other instruments, amalgamators, mixing machines, and porcelain furnaces; and dental CAD/CAM technologies to support dental restorations, such as intraoral scanners, 3-D printers, mills, other software and services, and a full-chairside economical restoration of esthetic ceramic dentistry, as well as DS Core, its cloud-based platform.