Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 368,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,800 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Bruker were worth $25,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the 2nd quarter valued at about $291,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bruker in the second quarter valued at approximately $296,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the second quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Maven Securities LTD grew its position in shares of Bruker by 400.0% during the second quarter. Maven Securities LTD now owns 20,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bruker in the 2nd quarter valued at $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BRKR. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Bruker from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Bruker in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $78.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research downgraded Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.40.

Bruker Stock Performance

NASDAQ BRKR traded up $1.20 on Friday, hitting $67.00. 671,160 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,034,795. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.09. The firm has a market cap of $9.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.18. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $53.79 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52. Bruker had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 11.29%. The firm had revenue of $800.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $799.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Bruker’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.27%.

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.