Kestra Investment Management LLC Increases Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 54.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,855 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,859 shares during the quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Bruker by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521,904 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Bruker by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $250,501,000 after buying an additional 318,808 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP increased its stake in Bruker by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $240,406,000 after buying an additional 37,024 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bruker by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $137,702,000 after buying an additional 193,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Bruker by 140.3% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 666,617 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of BRKR opened at $50.75 on Wednesday. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.07 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. The company has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on BRKR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

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.