Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 387 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,494 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bruker were worth $967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BRKR. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 44,366 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,601,000 after buying an additional 1,686 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Bruker by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 909 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. CGN Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bruker in the 4th quarter worth $1,273,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Bruker in the 4th quarter worth $300,000. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following 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. This trade represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BRKR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays decreased their target price 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. 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. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.45.

Bruker Trading Down 2.5 %

Bruker stock opened at $56.71 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $8.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $58.46 and its 200-day moving average is $61.22. Bruker Co. has a 1 year low of $48.07 and a 1 year 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.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). 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% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 9.62%.

About Bruker

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.