Ostrum Asset Management Sells 1,755 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Ostrum Asset Management decreased its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,320 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,755 shares during the period. Ostrum Asset Management’s holdings in Bruker were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FIL Ltd raised its position in Bruker by 262.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,378,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Bruker by 4,510.3% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 783,988 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $45,957,000 after buying an additional 766,983 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in 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 worth $66,930,000 after buying an additional 666,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Bruker by 22.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 313,171 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRKR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.00.

Bruker Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $36.28 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.58. Bruker Co. has a 12-month low of $34.10 and a 12-month high of $83.32. 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 company has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.74, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. Research analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Bruker 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.