Aristides Capital LLC Takes $222,000 Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,485 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Bruker by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,534 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position 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 valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bruker by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,766 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its position in Bruker by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,139 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Bruker by 139.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 361 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRKR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Bruker from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.40.

Bruker Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $66.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.70 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.18. Bruker Co. has a 52-week low of $53.79 and a 52-week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52. Bruker had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 11.29%. The company had revenue of $800.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $799.44 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 7.27%.

Bruker Company 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.