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

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,177,981 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 95,549 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA were worth $41,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 15,105.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,503,591 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $85,478,000 after buying an additional 4,473,972 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its position in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,545,981 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $257,103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,708,097 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 9,172,876 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $174,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,391 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 206.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,847,389 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $49,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 38.2% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,873,645 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $73,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071,604 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.70% of the company’s stock.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Stock Down 4.5 %

NASDAQ:XRAY opened at $14.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.19. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.78 and a 1-year high of $33.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.21, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.98.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. DENTSPLY SIRONA’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at DENTSPLY SIRONA

In related news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 15,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.51 per share, with a total value of $249,994.42. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 81,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,353,341.21. The trade was a 22.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barrington Research dropped their target price on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, DENTSPLY SIRONA currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

DENTSPLY SIRONA 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.