Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Shares Sold by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc trimmed its position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 33.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,746 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,907 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Bruker were worth $454,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Bruker by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 134,254 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,272,000 after acquiring an additional 14,069 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Bruker by 446.8% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,998 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 22,878 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Bruker during the 4th quarter worth about $300,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 602,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,584,000 after buying an additional 171,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after buying an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRKR has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group began coverage on Bruker in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.50.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $46.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Bruker Co. has a 12 month low of $44.11 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.76, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.22.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. As a group, analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

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.