Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Has $1 Million Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. cut its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 61.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 27,000 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $1,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,514 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bruker during the fourth quarter valued at about $300,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Bruker by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 988,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $57,967,000 after purchasing an additional 69,806 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Bruker by 95.1% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 190,855 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,188,000 after buying an additional 93,048 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on BRKR. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.10.

Bruker Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $37.53 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a 52 week low of $34.10 and a 52 week high of $78.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.45. The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. The company had revenue of $801.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.83 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Bruker’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is 38.46%.

About Bruker

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.