Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Position Increased by Sector Gamma AS

Sector Gamma AS raised its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,312 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 23,957 shares during the quarter. Bruker makes up 2.3% of Sector Gamma AS's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Sector Gamma AS owned approximately 0.09% of Bruker worth $9,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in Bruker by 68.2% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 360 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Bruker by 145.0% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 512 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Bruker by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 541 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BRKR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Bruker from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $60.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.86.

Bruker Trading Up 0.5 %

Bruker stock traded up $0.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $80.97. The company had a trading volume of 488,537 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,653. Bruker Co. has a 12-month low of $53.79 and a 12-month high of $94.86. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $88.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.80.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. Bruker had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 29.94%. The firm had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Bruker's revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Bruker's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In other Bruker news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total transaction of $1,350,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,084,618.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 28.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.