Citigroup Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Citigroup Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,635 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 22,013 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.'s holdings in Bruker were worth $4,533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bruker by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 899,638 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $62,129,000 after acquiring an additional 94,612 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 11.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 206,900 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $14,289,000 after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 2.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 90,284 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,235,000 after purchasing an additional 2,436 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 7.1% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 59,728 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,125,000 after buying an additional 3,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bruker by 12.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 146,694 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $10,131,000 after buying an additional 16,044 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BRKR. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research cut Bruker from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays cut their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.36.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. This trade represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 28.30% of the company's stock.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of BRKR stock traded down $0.82 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $57.55. 1,133,615 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,646,186. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $60.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.79. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.07 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. The firm has a market cap of $8.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker's payout ratio is 9.62%.

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.