Voya Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Voya Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 24.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 143,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 45,585 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.09% of Bruker worth $8,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. Freshford Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bruker in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,761,000. Pinebridge Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 42.7% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 33,619 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,971,000 after acquiring an additional 10,055 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Bruker by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 549,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,212,000 after acquiring an additional 19,844 shares during the period. Eversept Partners LP purchased a new position in Bruker during the fourth quarter worth about $13,772,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Bruker by 63.0% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 25,574 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 9,888 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $39.84 on Wednesday. Bruker Co. has a twelve month low of $34.10 and a twelve month high of $81.07. The company has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.42, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.36. 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 (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Bruker’s payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

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.