Jane Street Group LLC Sells 161,019 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Jane Street Group LLC cut its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 97.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,544 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 161,019 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC's holdings in Bruker were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Bruker by 21.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $987,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 9.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $250,501,000 after purchasing an additional 318,808 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP increased its holdings in Bruker by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $240,406,000 after purchasing an additional 37,024 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Bruker by 127.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $88,666,000 after purchasing an additional 779,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Bruker by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,277,273 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $81,508,000 after buying an additional 101,539 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company's stock.

Bruker Stock Down 0.3 %

BRKR stock traded down $0.17 on Friday, reaching $60.78. 1,376,775 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,103,396. Bruker Co. has a one year low of $48.07 and a one year high of $94.86. The company has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last issued its 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). The firm had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Research 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 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Bruker's payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares of the company's stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Bruker in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Bruker from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bruker has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.45.

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.