Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $1.91 Million Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 26,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,910,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bruker in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,384,000. LA Financiere DE L Echiquier increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. LA Financiere DE L Echiquier now owns 121,247 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,909,000 after acquiring an additional 21,453 shares during the last quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 175,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 315,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $23,161,000 after acquiring an additional 121,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new position in shares of Bruker in the 4th quarter valued at about $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Down 5.3 %

Bruker stock opened at $78.56 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a twelve month low of $53.79 and a twelve month high of $94.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.17.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. Bruker had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $809.35 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BRKR shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total value of $1,350,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 28.20% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Company 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.