Cooke & Bieler LP Raises Holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY)

Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,172,876 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 1,794,391 shares during the period. DENTSPLY SIRONA accounts for 1.7% of Cooke & Bieler LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA were worth $174,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 60.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,492 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 29,682 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,199 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,274 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.70% of the company’s stock.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Price Performance

Shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA stock opened at $16.05 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of -7.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $18.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.14. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.47 and a 12 month high of $34.28.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. DENTSPLY SIRONA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.07%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 15,142 shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.51 per share, for a total transaction of $249,994.42. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 81,971 shares in the company, valued at $1,353,341.21. The trade was a 22.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on XRAY. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut DENTSPLY SIRONA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, DENTSPLY SIRONA currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.58.

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.