Victory Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 16,267 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $2,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 120.4% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 399 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Bruker by 115.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Bruker in the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bruker by 20.0% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 991 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. TD Cowen lowered 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. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.36.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the transaction, 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 28.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bruker Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $57.07 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.20. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.07 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.54. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The business had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Bruker’s revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Bruker’s payout ratio is presently 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.