Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Lowers Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 66.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,200 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 60,084 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Bruker were worth $1,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $250,501,000 after purchasing an additional 318,808 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP grew its position in Bruker by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $240,406,000 after buying an additional 37,024 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bruker by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $137,702,000 after buying an additional 193,580 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $66,930,000 after acquiring an additional 666,617 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 988,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $57,967,000 after acquiring an additional 69,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BRKR shares. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Bruker in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR opened at $42.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.37, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $50.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.96. Bruker Co. has a 52 week low of $41.80 and a 52 week high of $94.35.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

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.