Sanctuary Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 35.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,278 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 3,189 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. FMR LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in Bruker by 140.3% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 666,617 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its holdings in Bruker by 4,875.9% during the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 470,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $32,470,000 after buying an additional 460,722 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Bruker by 1,933.2% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 410,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,331,000 after buying an additional 390,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Bruker by 9.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after buying an additional 318,808 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $47.22 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.72. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.41 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. The firm has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.16.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bruker currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

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.