Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $15.02 Million Stock Holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 256,212 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,206 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.17% of Bruker worth $15,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Bruker by 21.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after buying an additional 2,521,904 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Bruker by 140.3% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,141,762 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $66,930,000 after acquiring an additional 666,617 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its holdings in Bruker by 4,875.9% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 470,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $32,470,000 after acquiring an additional 460,722 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Bruker by 1,933.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 410,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,331,000 after acquiring an additional 390,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after purchasing an additional 318,808 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BRKR shares. UBS Group initiated 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on 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 price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays cut their price target on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.50.

Bruker Price Performance

BRKR stock opened at $50.49 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.81. The stock has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a PE ratio of 66.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $48.07 and a 1 year high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s payout ratio is 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.