Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Raises Stock Holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 141,890 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,469 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Bruker were worth $8,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 14,069 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Bruker by 446.8% during 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. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at $300,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in 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 period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Bruker by 21.4% during 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. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on BRKR. Bank of America increased their price target on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group started coverage on Bruker in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays decreased their target price on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

Bruker Stock Performance

BRKR stock opened at $48.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $54.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.00. The company has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.70, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. Bruker Co. has a 1-year low of $45.29 and a 1-year high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. 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.