Gotham Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 146.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,324 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 63,231 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $6,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BRKR. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Bruker by 262.3% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $114,978,000 after buying an additional 1,420,102 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bruker in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,378,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of 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 4th 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 purchasing an additional 666,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG acquired a new stake in Bruker in the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,079,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on BRKR. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.10.

Bruker Stock Performance

BRKR opened at $38.74 on Wednesday. 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 fifty day moving average price of $40.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.89. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $34.10 and a 1 year high of $79.78. The stock has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $801.40 million during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s payout ratio is presently 38.46%.

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.