Raymond James & Associates Trims Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Raymond James & Associates decreased its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,973 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,556 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Bruker were worth $2,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Bruker by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 28,184 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,071,000 after buying an additional 6,647 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Bruker in the 4th quarter worth $226,000. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Bruker by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,285 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 3,412 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in Bruker by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BRKR shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.86.

Bruker Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $83.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Bruker Co. has a twelve month low of $53.79 and a twelve month high of $94.86. The business’s 50 day moving average is $87.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.76.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. Bruker had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 14.41%. The firm had revenue of $844.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In other news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total value of $1,350,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,147 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,618.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 28.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Bruker

Bruker Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and distributes scientific instruments, and analytical and diagnostic solutions in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Bruker Scientific Instruments (BSI) BioSpin, BSI CALID, BSI Nano, and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies.