Kestra Investment Management LLC Acquires New Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 8,996 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $621,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 4,636.4% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 521 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 115.3% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 661 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Bruker in the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 81.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 867 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research lowered Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays dropped 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. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.36.

Bruker Stock Performance

BRKR stock opened at $57.95 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Bruker Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.07 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $864.40 million during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.62%.

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.