Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Shares Bought by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC grew its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 36.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,685 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,888 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $3,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 21.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521,904 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Bruker by 9.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after buying an additional 318,808 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 1.1% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $240,406,000 after buying an additional 37,024 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Bruker by 127.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,666,000 after acquiring an additional 779,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Bruker by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,277,273 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $81,508,000 after acquiring an additional 101,539 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Up 3.1 %

Bruker stock opened at $57.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.18. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $58.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.43.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. Bruker’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. Research analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BRKR. Wolfe Research cut Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.45.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. The trade was a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

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.