Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 1,206 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 256,212 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,206 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $15,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BRKR. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Bruker by 21.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Bruker by 140.3% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,141,762 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $66,930,000 after purchasing an additional 666,617 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in Bruker by 4,875.9% during the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 470,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,470,000 after purchasing an additional 460,722 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Bruker by 1,933.2% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 410,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,331,000 after purchasing an additional 390,057 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Bruker by 9.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $250,501,000 after purchasing an additional 318,808 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRKR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Monday. Barclays reduced their price target on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen cut their price objective 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, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

Bruker Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $50.49 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Bruker Co. has a 1-year low of $48.07 and a 1-year high of $94.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.39 and a 200-day moving average of $59.81. The company has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.43, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.16.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

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.