First Trust Advisors LP Has $43.87 Million Holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 748,400 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 65,316 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.49% of Bruker worth $43,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FIL Ltd raised its stake in Bruker by 262.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $114,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,102 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bruker during the 4th quarter worth about $63,378,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake 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 valued at $45,957,000 after acquiring an additional 766,983 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 140.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 666,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 139.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 526,166 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $30,844,000 after purchasing an additional 306,282 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. 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 currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $65.00.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of BRKR stock traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, reaching $39.66. The stock had a trading volume of 231,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,517,034. The firm's 50-day moving average is $42.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Bruker Co. has a 12 month low of $34.10 and a 12 month high of $82.04.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. On average, research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Bruker's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Bruker Company 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.