Montanaro Asset Management Ltd Sells 8,000 Shares of Bruker Corporation $BRKR

Montanaro Asset Management Ltd lowered its stake in Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 2.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 310,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the quarter. Bruker comprises approximately 3.3% of Montanaro Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd owned 0.21% of Bruker worth $12,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 0.8% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 37,115 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 1.1% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 26,493 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 1.0% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 31,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 63.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 26.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,673 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BRKR. Stifel Nicolaus set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Bruker and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $60.00 target price on shares of Bruker and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Cynthia M. Friend sold 3,535 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $114,003.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $581,016. The trade was a 16.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 27.30% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Price Performance

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $38.94 on Monday. Bruker Corporation has a one year low of $28.53 and a one year high of $64.64. The company has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.89, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Bruker had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The company had revenue of $797.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $811.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Bruker’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Bruker Corporation will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 23rd were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 23rd. Bruker’s payout ratio is presently 38.46%.

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.