Everence Capital Management Inc. Invests $251,000 in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,280 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of Bruker by 4,636.4% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 521 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Bruker by 115.3% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 661 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Bruker during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 81.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 867 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRKR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.45.

Bruker Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $60.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.17. Bruker Co. has a 1-year low of $48.07 and a 1-year high of $94.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.68 and a 200-day moving average of $61.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. The trade was a 0.26 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

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.