Raymond James & Associates Sells 486,411 Shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY)

Raymond James & Associates lessened its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) by 42.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 671,095 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 486,411 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA were worth $18,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 44.2% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 141,117 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,684,000 after purchasing an additional 43,230 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in the 2nd quarter valued at $846,000. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA during the 1st quarter valued at $1,409,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 369.9% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 123,580 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,102,000 after acquiring an additional 97,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in DENTSPLY SIRONA in the 1st quarter worth about $1,202,000. Institutional investors own 95.70% of the company’s stock.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Stock Performance

XRAY stock opened at $23.31 on Friday. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.85 and a 1-year high of $37.60. 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 50-day moving average price of $25.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.52. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of -27.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.00.

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). The company had revenue of $984.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $993.61 million. DENTSPLY SIRONA had a positive return on equity of 11.86% and a negative net margin of 4.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. DENTSPLY SIRONA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -74.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on XRAY. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target 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. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.67.

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.