Bessemer Group Inc. Has $648,000 Stock Position in Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Bessemer Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 68.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,538 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 33,004 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Bruker were worth $648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Bruker by 7.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 69,806 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Bruker in the 4th quarter valued at $608,000. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in Bruker by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 15,181 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,483 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Bruker by 303.1% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 17,870 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 13,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Bruker by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 30,725 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 2,608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $38.36 per share, for a total transaction of $100,042.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 38,462,171 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,408,879.56. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 27.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Bruker from $61.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup lowered shares of Bruker from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $50.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bruker has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $52.89.

Bruker Trading Down 0.1%

Bruker stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.42. 1,207,758 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,708,257. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.58, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.57. Bruker Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $34.10 and a fifty-two week high of $72.94. The firm's 50 day moving average is $38.88 and its 200-day moving average is $46.14.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The business had revenue of $801.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Bruker's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Bruker Corporation will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Bruker's payout ratio is currently 38.46%.

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.