California Public Employees Retirement System Has $9 Million Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,581 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 16,593 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.10% of Bruker worth $9,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bruker by 2,324.1% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Bruker by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BRKR. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Bruker in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

Bruker Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $36.46 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 47.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. Bruker Co. has a twelve month low of $34.10 and a twelve month high of $91.34. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.00.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. On average, analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Bruker Profile

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.