Federated Hermes Inc. Trims Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 137,529 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 773 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $10,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Bruker by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,840,735 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $488,478,000 after buying an additional 594,362 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,381,703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $210,680,000 after purchasing an additional 422,100 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,950,145 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $121,494,000 after purchasing an additional 56,869 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,102,095 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $68,661,000 after purchasing an additional 28,031 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 95.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 928,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $57,840,000 after purchasing an additional 452,780 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Trading Up 5.7 %

BRKR stock opened at $82.46 on Wednesday. Bruker Co. has a 52 week low of $53.79 and a 52 week high of $94.86. The company has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.39.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. Bruker had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 14.41%. The firm had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.35 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity at Bruker

In related news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 28.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.