Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Lowers Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lessened its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 87.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 49,534 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 360,700 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Bruker were worth $2,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. TradeLink Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bruker during the fourth quarter worth about $1,046,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 81,166.7% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,876 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 4,870 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 225.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 20,225 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 14,011 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 141,890 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,379,000 after purchasing an additional 17,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 602.8% during the fourth quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 111,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,554,000 after purchasing an additional 95,897 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays cut their price target on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

Bruker Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $45.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.11 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $53.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.40.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

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.