Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Shares Bought by Needham Investment Management LLC

Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 76.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 230,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Bruker makes up approximately 1.2% of Needham Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Needham Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $15,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 991 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Bruker by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,766 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bruker by 120.4% in 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 during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in Bruker by 0.8% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 30,911 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,972,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bruker by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 858 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced 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 lowered shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.36.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $58.37. The company had a trading volume of 833,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,696,812. Bruker Co. has a 12 month low of $48.07 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.79. 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) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. Bruker’s revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is 9.62%.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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.