Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 4.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 368,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,800 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned 0.25% of Bruker worth $25,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Bruker by 7.4% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,788,763 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $168,036,000 after acquiring an additional 123,984 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA increased its holdings in Bruker by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,414,362 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $132,865,000 after purchasing an additional 47,301 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Bruker by 127.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $88,666,000 after purchasing an additional 779,549 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Bruker by 8.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,277,273 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $81,508,000 after purchasing an additional 101,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Bruker by 3.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 966,069 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $61,645,000 after buying an additional 27,870 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BRKR shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Bruker in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.40.

Bruker Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR traded up $1.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $67.00. The stock had a trading volume of 671,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,034,795. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $53.79 and a 1 year high of $94.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $65.39 and its 200-day moving average is $71.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.65.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.52. The firm had revenue of $800.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $799.44 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 11.29%. Bruker’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Bruker’s payout ratio is 7.27%.

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.