Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Takes Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,252 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bruker by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,013,741 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $118,081,000 after purchasing an additional 20,273 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Bruker by 262.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $114,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,102 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Bruker by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,687,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $98,914,000 after purchasing an additional 313,171 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Bruker by 140.3% in the fourth 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. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,378,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $37.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.38, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.51. Bruker Co. has a 1-year low of $34.10 and a 1-year high of $79.78.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $801.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.83 million. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. Bruker’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 38.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BRKR. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.10.

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.