Montanaro Asset Management Ltd Sells 108,250 Shares of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Key Points

• Montanaro Asset Management Ltd reduced its stake in Bruker Corporation by 25.4%, selling 108,250 shares during the first quarter, now holding 318,700 shares worth $13.3 million.
• Bruker Corporation reported a Q2 EPS of $0.32, missing estimates and experiencing a 0.4% year-over-year revenue decline to $797.4 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share, translating to a 0.6% yield on an annualized basis, with a payout ratio of 38.46%.

Montanaro Asset Management Ltd lessened its stake in Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 25.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 318,700 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 108,250 shares during the quarter. Bruker comprises approximately 3.9% of Montanaro Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.21% of Bruker worth $13,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,525 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 95.1% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 190,855 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $11,188,000 after acquiring an additional 93,048 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 354,106 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $20,758,000 after acquiring an additional 34,464 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 28,782 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Bruker by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 65,029 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,812,000 after buying an additional 3,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company's stock.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $30.78 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.24. Bruker Corporation has a 52 week low of $30.00 and a 52 week high of $72.94. The company has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.19, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.16.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Bruker had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The company had revenue of $797.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $811.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bruker Corporation will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Bruker's payout ratio is 38.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Bank of America dropped their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group set a $60.00 target price on shares of Bruker and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.30.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 2,608 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.36 per share, with a total value of $100,042.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,462,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,475,408,879.56. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 27.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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