Blue Trust Inc. Increases Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in Bruker by 4,636.4% during 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 holdings in shares of Bruker by 115.3% during 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. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in Bruker by 2,324.1% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Bruker by 81.0% in the third 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, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Bruker during the third quarter valued at about $73,000. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRKR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Bruker in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research report on Friday, January 17th. 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. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.45.

Bruker Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $57.43 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.16. Bruker Co. has a 52-week low of $48.07 and a 52-week high of $94.86. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The business’s revenue 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, analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,439,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

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.