Franklin Resources Inc. Has $488,000 Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 68.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,691 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 16,821 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bruker by 95.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,089 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 4,447 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 7.3% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,553 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Bruker by 10.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $137,702,000 after purchasing an additional 193,580 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Bruker by 36.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,685 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,847,000 after buying an additional 14,888 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in shares of Bruker by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 31,820 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,198,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. The trade was a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group started coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on Bruker in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.45.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $58.50 on Tuesday. Bruker Co. has a 52 week low of $48.07 and a 52 week high of $94.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $57.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.18. The company has a market cap of $8.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.18.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. Bruker’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.62%.

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.