Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $2.79 Million Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 0.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 40,417 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Bruker were worth $2,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,472,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Bruker by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 166,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,628,000 after buying an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Bruker by 446.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,998 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after buying an additional 22,878 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bruker by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 301,251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,223,000 after buying an additional 98,427 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Bruker by 3.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 966,069 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $61,645,000 after acquiring an additional 27,870 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.70.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bruker Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $57.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.65. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $48.07 and a 1 year high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. Bruker’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 9.62%.

Bruker Company 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.