Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 372,400 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 2,342.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 388,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 372,400 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned 0.28% of Bruker worth $28,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Bruker by 68.2% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 360 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Bruker by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 3,412 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 541 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,140 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,999,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In other Bruker news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total transaction of $1,350,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 28.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.86.

Bruker Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $78.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.73, a PEG ratio of 1.97 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 12 month low of $53.79 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.93 and a 200-day moving average of $74.25.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. Bruker had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is 6.85%.

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.