Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 819,195 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 23.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,729,717 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 819,195 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $160,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bruker by 2,324.1% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 909 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bruker by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bruker by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Bruker by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 257 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 equities analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Monday, February 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

Bruker Stock Down 3.3 %

BRKR stock opened at $40.38 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $49.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.57. Bruker Co. has a twelve month low of $40.34 and a twelve month high of $92.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.13, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s payout ratio is currently 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.