Sciencast Management LP Acquires 48,676 Shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY)

Sciencast Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) by 236.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,276 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,676 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA were worth $1,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 60.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,492 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 2.1% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 29,682 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,199 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 648.4% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,422 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Institutional investors own 95.70% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 15,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.51 per share, with a total value of $249,994.42. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 81,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,341.21. This represents a 22.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on XRAY shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. 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 research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Price Performance

XRAY opened at $15.56 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $17.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.25. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.78 and a 52 week high of $33.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of -7.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.98.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. DENTSPLY SIRONA’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.07%.

About DENTSPLY SIRONA

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.