Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 146,694 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 16,044 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.10% of Bruker worth $10,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Bruker in the 1st quarter valued at $1,142,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,472,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 466,865 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $43,857,000 after buying an additional 61,429 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 1,694.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 202,733 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $12,936,000 after buying an additional 191,435 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Bruker by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 166,561 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $10,628,000 after acquiring an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bruker Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $56.67. 1,275,151 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,101,714. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.20. The business's 50 day moving average is $61.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.77. 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 one year low of $48.07 and a one year high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share (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 EPS. Bruker's quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BRKR shares. Wolfe Research cut shares of Bruker from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 28.30% of the company's stock.

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.