Vontobel Holding Ltd. Lowers Stock Holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,007 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 380 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Bruker in the 4th quarter valued at $509,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,910,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,384,000. LA Financiere DE L Echiquier raised its position in shares of Bruker by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. LA Financiere DE L Echiquier now owns 121,247 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,909,000 after buying an additional 21,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambiar Investors LLC raised its position in shares of Bruker by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 175,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,890,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $82.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.39. Bruker Co. has a one year low of $53.79 and a one year high of $94.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.80.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $844.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $809.35 million. Bruker had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 29.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total transaction of $1,350,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,147 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,618.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 28.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRKR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.86.

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.