Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Increases Stock Holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY - Free Report) by 21.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,851,869 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after buying an additional 1,230,944 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 3.45% of DENTSPLY SIRONA worth $130,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 15,105.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,503,591 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $85,478,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,972 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,545,981 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $257,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,708,097 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,730,000. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 24.3% during 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 buying an additional 1,794,391 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 206.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,847,389 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $49,990,000 after buying an additional 1,244,326 shares during the last quarter. 95.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other DENTSPLY SIRONA news, Director Gregory T. Lucier acquired 15,142 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.51 per share, for a total transaction of $249,994.42. Following the acquisition, 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 this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on XRAY. StockNews.com cut shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI restated an "in-line" rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho cut their price target on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.25.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ XRAY traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $14.01. 672,657 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,968,024. 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 company's 50 day moving average price is $14.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.92. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.16 and a 12 month high of $30.78.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.57%. DENTSPLY SIRONA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.07%.

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.