Swiss National Bank Purchases 21,000 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 206,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Bruker were worth $14,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Bruker by 127.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,666,000 after purchasing an additional 779,549 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Bruker in the second quarter worth approximately $36,472,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bruker by 123.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 555,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,444,000 after purchasing an additional 307,021 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Bruker by 78.3% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 593,091 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $37,845,000 after purchasing an additional 260,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP boosted its holdings in Bruker by 262.9% in the second quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 333,997 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $21,312,000 after purchasing an additional 241,959 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bruker Stock Up 1.5 %

BRKR opened at $57.07 on Friday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.07 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.63 and its 200 day moving average is $64.77. The stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.20.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share (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 net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The business’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.35%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRKR has been the topic of several research reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bruker has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.36.

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.