Captrust Financial Advisors Acquires New Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 4,501 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after buying an additional 2,521,904 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Bruker by 127.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $88,666,000 after acquiring an additional 779,549 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker during the 2nd quarter worth $36,472,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 1,933.2% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 410,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,331,000 after purchasing an additional 390,057 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 123.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 555,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,444,000 after purchasing an additional 307,021 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRKR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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 research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup dropped their price target on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. The trade was a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR opened at $57.73 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a PE ratio of 27.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.18. Bruker Co. has a 12 month low of $48.07 and a 12 month high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its 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 return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.46 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.62%.

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.