Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Acquires 17,469 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 141,890 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 17,469 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.09% of Bruker worth $8,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after purchasing an additional 318,808 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $240,406,000 after purchasing an additional 37,024 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $137,702,000 after purchasing an additional 193,580 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 140.3% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,141,762 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $66,930,000 after purchasing an additional 666,617 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Bruker Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $48.41 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $54.97 and its 200 day moving average is $59.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Bruker Co. has a 12 month low of $45.29 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The stock has a market cap of $7.34 billion, a PE ratio of 63.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly 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%. Research analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.