DENTSPLY SIRONA (NASDAQ:XRAY) Sets New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $17.09 and last traded at $17.15, with a volume of 6160723 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.81.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on XRAY. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on DENTSPLY SIRONA from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded DENTSPLY SIRONA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.58.

Institutional Trading of DENTSPLY SIRONA

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of XRAY. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $85,478,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,972 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 13,545,981 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $257,103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,708,097 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA in the fourth quarter worth $45,730,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 245.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,893,023 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $54,389,000 after acquiring an additional 2,054,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of DENTSPLY SIRONA by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,549,242 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $238,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,975,404 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.70% of the company’s stock.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $18.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.55.

DENTSPLY SIRONA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. DENTSPLY SIRONA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -30.92%.

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.