Arizona State Retirement System Increases Stock Position in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 59,184 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 1,215 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA were worth $2,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in XRAY. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 8,879 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA grew its position in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA now owns 22,125 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $787,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 5.4% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,950 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 7,721 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 104.2% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 774 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.70% of the company’s stock.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Trading Down 1.1 %

XRAY stock opened at $32.02 on Friday. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.27 and a twelve month high of $43.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.99.

DENTSPLY SIRONA (NASDAQ:XRAY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.01. DENTSPLY SIRONA had a negative net margin of 3.33% and a positive return on equity of 11.14%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $972.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is an increase from DENTSPLY SIRONA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. DENTSPLY SIRONA’s dividend payout ratio is presently -103.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on XRAY shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, DENTSPLY SIRONA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.50.

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.