Bellevue Group AG Buys New Holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Bellevue Group AG purchased a new position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 359,588 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $21,079,000. Bellevue Group AG owned about 0.24% of Bruker at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FIL Ltd lifted its position in Bruker by 262.3% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $114,978,000 after buying an additional 1,420,102 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at $63,378,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Bruker by 4,510.3% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 783,988 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $45,957,000 after purchasing an additional 766,983 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased 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 purchasing an additional 666,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Bruker by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,687,364 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $98,914,000 after purchasing an additional 313,171 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bruker Stock Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $40.44 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23. Bruker Co. has a one year low of $34.10 and a one year high of $79.78. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.89.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. Sell-side analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Bruker's payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BRKR. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.00.

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.

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