Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Shares Acquired by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $1,963,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Bruker by 120.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 399 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Bruker by 115.3% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 661 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Bruker in the second quarter valued at $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Bruker by 81.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 867 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 991 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $58.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Bruker Co. has a 12 month low of $48.07 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.60.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its 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 business had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given 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 dividend yield of 0.34%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.62%.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRKR has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.36.

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.