GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 47.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $75,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Bruker by 4,636.4% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 521 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Bruker during the second quarter valued at about $52,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker during the third quarter worth about $73,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Bruker in the third quarter worth about $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research lowered Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Bruker in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.45.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of BRKR opened at $60.78 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.07 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.80. The stock has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.17. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.