Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 83,494 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 88.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 83,494 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bruker in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,378,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 140.3% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,141,762 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $66,930,000 after purchasing an additional 666,617 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 139.3% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 526,166 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,844,000 after buying an additional 306,282 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 829,763 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $48,641,000 after buying an additional 227,619 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bruker by 145.8% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 360,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $21,140,000 after buying an additional 213,937 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Performance

BRKR stock opened at $37.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 49.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $45.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.20. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.10 and a fifty-two week high of $84.90.

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

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRKR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.50.

Bruker 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.