Vontobel Holding Ltd. Takes $388,000 Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 6,614 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Bruker by 11.7% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 134,254 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,272,000 after purchasing an additional 14,069 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Bruker by 446.8% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,998 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 22,878 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Bruker during the fourth quarter worth about $300,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 602,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,584,000 after purchasing an additional 171,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521,904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRKR. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

Bruker Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $52.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.63, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.13. Bruker Co. has a 52-week low of $48.07 and a 52-week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

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.