Nuance Investments LLC Lowers Holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY)

Key Points

• Nuance Investments LLC has reduced its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 33.7%, now owning approximately 8.8% of the company, making it their second largest position.
• Several research firms have recently dropped their price targets for DENTSPLY SIRONA, with Stifel Nicolaus lowering it from $19.00 to $17.00 and Morgan Stanley setting a target of $14.00.
• DENTSPLY SIRONA announced a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, reflecting a 5.1% annualized dividend yield, which will be paid on October 10th.

Nuance Investments LLC cut its holdings in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY - Free Report) by 33.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,987,359 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 4,558,622 shares during the quarter. DENTSPLY SIRONA comprises approximately 8.8% of Nuance Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Nuance Investments LLC owned about 4.51% of DENTSPLY SIRONA worth $134,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Colonial Trust Co SC acquired a new position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 866.7% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 2,175 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 175.8% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,949 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in DENTSPLY SIRONA by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,816 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XRAY has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Barrington Research set a $18.00 price objective on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $18.64.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:XRAY traded down $0.02 on Friday, hitting $13.85. 2,967,785 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,518,758. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.94. DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.16 and a 52 week high of $27.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.69. The company's 50-day moving average price is $15.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.71.

DENTSPLY SIRONA (NASDAQ:XRAY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.02. DENTSPLY SIRONA had a positive return on equity of 16.33% and a negative net margin of 25.85%. The business had revenue of $936.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $929.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. DENTSPLY SIRONA's revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 26th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. DENTSPLY SIRONA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -13.50%.

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.