Natixis Advisors LLC Has $10.13 Million Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 146,694 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 16,044 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $10,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Bruker by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,270 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Bruker by 1.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 42,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,947,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 40,522 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,798,000 after buying an additional 5,523 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 36,627 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,529,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares during the period. Finally, Montanaro Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in Bruker by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd now owns 446,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,835,000 after buying an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BRKR. Barclays decreased their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $56.17 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $48.07 and a 1 year high of $94.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.77.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.