Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 50.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,906 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,069 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Bruker by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after buying an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Bruker by 9.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $250,501,000 after acquiring an additional 318,808 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 1.1% during the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $240,406,000 after purchasing an additional 37,024 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Bruker by 10.8% during 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. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bruker by 11.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 899,638 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $62,129,000 after purchasing an additional 94,612 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BRKR. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Bruker Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of BRKR opened at $57.43 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.16. 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.16. Bruker Co. has a 52-week low of $48.07 and a 52-week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.46 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Bruker’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date 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.