Swiss National Bank Grows Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Swiss National Bank grew its position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.14% of Bruker worth $12,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BRKR. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Bruker by 11.7% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 134,254 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,272,000 after acquiring an additional 14,069 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 446.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,998 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 22,878 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker in the 4th quarter worth approximately $300,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Bruker by 39.9% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 602,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,584,000 after purchasing an additional 171,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Bruker by 21.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after buying an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on BRKR shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Bruker in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bruker presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.50.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $46.68 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $52.82 and a 200 day moving average of $58.00. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $44.11 and a 1 year high of $94.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Bruker’s payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

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.