4,001 Shares in Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) Bought by Rakuten Securities Inc.

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 4,001 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. London Co. of Virginia lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 78.4% during the fourth quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 4,193,454 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $245,820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,294 shares during the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 484.1% during the fourth quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 1,714,015 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $100,476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,569 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in Bruker by 262.3% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $114,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,102 shares during the last quarter. Steadfast Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Bruker in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,997,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bruker during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,378,000. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BRKR. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bruker from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $50.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.22.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 2,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $38.36 per share, with a total value of $100,042.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 38,462,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,408,879.56. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 27.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bruker Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR opened at $37.62 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Bruker Corporation has a 12 month low of $34.10 and a 12 month high of $72.94. The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.58.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 2.31%. The firm had revenue of $801.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Bruker Corporation will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.46%.

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.