Vestal Point Capital LP Invests $8.63 Million in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 125,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,632,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BRKR. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in Bruker during the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker during the 1st quarter valued at $251,000. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker during the 1st quarter worth $1,142,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Bruker by 350.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,131 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,112,000 after buying an additional 25,768 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bruker during the first quarter valued at about $693,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $58.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $61.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.24. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $48.07 and a 1-year high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BRKR shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research cut Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. One 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.36.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired 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 directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This trade represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 28.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.