Highland Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY)

Highland Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 98,920 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 8,210 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA were worth $2,464,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its position in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 82.7% during the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,169 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,216 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. 95.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:XRAY traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $25.69. 28,105 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,134,096. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $38.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -57.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.91.

DENTSPLY SIRONA (NASDAQ:XRAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.01). DENTSPLY SIRONA had a positive return on equity of 11.86% and a negative net margin of 4.75%. The company had revenue of $984.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $993.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. DENTSPLY SIRONA’s dividend payout ratio is presently -145.45%.

Insider Activity at DENTSPLY SIRONA

In other news, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 3,577 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $27.95 per share, with a total value of $99,977.15. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 58,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,631,553.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XRAY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 target price (down from $35.00) on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com cut DENTSPLY SIRONA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.44.

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.