Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Increases Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 15.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 466,865 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,429 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.32% of Bruker worth $43,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BRKR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker in the fourth quarter valued at $74,582,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Bruker by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,664,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $122,328,000 after buying an additional 562,684 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in Bruker by 2,342.1% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 388,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,532,000 after buying an additional 372,400 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in Bruker by 925.8% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 362,035 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,602,000 after buying an additional 326,741 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Bruker by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,080,071 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $593,724,000 after buying an additional 239,336 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRKR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Bruker in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bruker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.78.

Bruker Stock Up 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR traded up $2.58 during trading on Friday, reaching $66.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,233,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 966,267. Bruker Co. has a one year low of $53.79 and a one year high of $94.86. The company has a market capitalization of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.06.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.07. Bruker had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The business had revenue of $721.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $729.88 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.27%.

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.