Thomas Bures Buys 500 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Stock

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) CAO Thomas Bures purchased 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $47.40 per share, with a total value of $23,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,572.80. This trade represents a 16.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Bruker Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of BRKR opened at $45.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $44.89 and a 1 year high of $94.86. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Bruker’s payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRKR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.50.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. FMR LLC grew its position in Bruker by 21.4% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia grew its position in Bruker by 78.4% in the 4th quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 4,193,454 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $245,820,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843,294 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Bruker by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after acquiring an additional 318,808 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP grew its position in Bruker by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $240,406,000 after acquiring an additional 37,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in Bruker by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,026,712 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $118,806,000 after acquiring an additional 185,912 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

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.