Fmr LLC Buys 2,521,904 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Fmr LLC boosted its position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 21.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned about 9.44% of Bruker worth $987,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bruker by 20.0% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 991 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,766 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 120.4% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 399 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 0.8% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 30,911 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,972,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Bruker by 40.7% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 858 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of BRKR opened at $58.38 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.29. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.20. Bruker Co. has a 52 week low of $48.07 and a 52 week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. Bruker’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This trade represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 28.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bruker 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.