Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Has $2.34 Million Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lessened its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 31,798 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 9,435 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Bruker were worth $2,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 8.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,840,735 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $488,478,000 after purchasing an additional 594,362 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP grew its position 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 buying an additional 422,100 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Bruker by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,950,145 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $121,494,000 after acquiring an additional 56,869 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Bruker by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,102,095 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $68,661,000 after acquiring an additional 28,031 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 452,780 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR opened at $82.46 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $88.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.39. Bruker Co. has a 1-year low of $53.79 and a 1-year high of $94.86. The firm has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.35 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. Bruker’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BRKR. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company 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 issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bruker news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total value of $1,350,900.00. Following 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 28.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Bruker

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.