GAMMA Investing LLC Boosts Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 47.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $75,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 134,254 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,272,000 after acquiring an additional 14,069 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Bruker during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,472,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Bruker by 446.8% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,998 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 22,878 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Bruker by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 166,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,628,000 after purchasing an additional 8,346 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Bruker by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 301,251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,223,000 after buying an additional 98,427 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Bruker in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bruker Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $60.78 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.07 and a fifty-two 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. The company has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.80 and a 200 day moving average of $61.80.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 9.62%.

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.