Northern Trust Corp Purchases 180,448 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 24.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 920,587 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 180,448 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Bruker were worth $53,965,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC raised its position in Bruker by 36.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,685 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,847,000 after purchasing an additional 14,888 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Bruker in the fourth quarter valued at about $251,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Bruker by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,287 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Monday, February 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

Bruker Trading Up 3.2 %

BRKR stock opened at $40.73 on Thursday. Bruker Co. has a 52 week low of $34.10 and a 52 week high of $79.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.52. The company has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 53.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $801.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.83 million. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.