Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lessened its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,696 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 535 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $1,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 4,636.4% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 2,324.1% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 115.3% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 661 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Bruker in the second quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 81.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on BRKR. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wolfe Research downgraded Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Bruker in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.45.

Bruker Price Performance

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $57.29 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.17. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $48.07 and a 1 year high of $94.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $58.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The company had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.46 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

Insider Activity

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the purchase, 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 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. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.