Amundi Cuts Holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Amundi lessened its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 49.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,764 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Bruker were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Bruker by 225.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 20,225 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after buying an additional 14,011 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of Bruker by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 141,890 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,379,000 after purchasing an additional 17,469 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Bruker by 602.8% in the 4th quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 111,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,554,000 after purchasing an additional 95,897 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker in the 4th quarter valued at $661,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Bruker by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 30,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRKR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

Bruker Trading Down 4.7 %

Shares of BRKR opened at $44.47 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Bruker Co. has a twelve month low of $44.11 and a twelve month high of $94.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.51, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.90.

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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 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.