59,815 Shares in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Acquired by NFJ Investment Group LLC

NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 59,815 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,506,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its position in Bruker by 2,324.1% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,273 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bruker by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on BRKR. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Monday, February 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.50.

Bruker Stock Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $37.74 on Thursday. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $34.10 and a 1 year high of $84.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 49.66, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average is $45.10 and its 200 day moving average is $54.20.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

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.