Swiss National Bank Purchases 21,000 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 206,900 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.14% of Bruker worth $14,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Bruker by 120.4% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 399 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 139.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 361 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 115.3% during 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 acquired a new stake in Bruker in the second quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Bruker by 81.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 867 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bruker Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of BRKR stock traded up $0.85 on Friday, hitting $57.07. The company had a trading volume of 2,079,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,661,772. Bruker Co. has a twelve month low of $48.07 and a twelve month high of $94.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.20. The stock's 50-day moving average is $61.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.77.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Bruker's payout ratio is 9.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $50.14 per share, with a total value 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 $1,927,359,688.82. This represents 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 28.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BRKR. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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 cut their target price on shares of 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 downgraded shares of Bruker from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.36.

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.