Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 257,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 68,245 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Bruker worth $17,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of Bruker during the 1st quarter worth $1,142,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Bruker during the second quarter worth about $36,472,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Bruker by 15.2% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 466,865 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $43,857,000 after acquiring an additional 61,429 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 1,694.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 202,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,936,000 after acquiring an additional 191,435 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 166,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,628,000 after acquiring an additional 8,346 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Trading Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $54.49 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a 52 week low of $54.33 and a 52 week high of $94.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $62.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.20.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on BRKR shares. TD Cowen cut their target price on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.36.

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.