Toronto Dominion Bank Buys Shares of 50,000 Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 50,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,931,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BRKR. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Bruker by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,514 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Bruker in the 4th quarter worth approximately $300,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Bruker by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 988,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $57,967,000 after purchasing an additional 69,806 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Bruker by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Bruker by 95.1% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 190,855 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,188,000 after buying an additional 93,048 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BRKR shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Bruker in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.10.

Bruker Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $36.34 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a twelve month low of $34.10 and a twelve month high of $78.59. The stock has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.65 and a 200 day moving average of $49.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $801.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 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.