PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Raises Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 225.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,225 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,011 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $1,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 21.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 140.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 666,617 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 4,875.9% in the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 470,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,470,000 after acquiring an additional 460,722 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 1,933.2% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 410,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,331,000 after acquiring an additional 390,057 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 9.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $250,501,000 after acquiring an additional 318,808 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $45.97 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. Bruker Co. has a 1-year low of $44.11 and a 1-year high of $94.86. The company has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.36.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. Research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on BRKR shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of 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. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Bruker in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

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.