Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Makes New Investment in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 8,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $761,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Bruker by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,080,071 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $593,724,000 after purchasing an additional 239,336 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Bruker by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,664,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $122,328,000 after buying an additional 562,684 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Bruker by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,590,151 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $116,844,000 after buying an additional 35,873 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its stake in Bruker by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,414,362 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $132,865,000 after acquiring an additional 47,301 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at about $74,582,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BRKR traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $63.92. 279,823 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 991,123. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Bruker Co. has a one year low of $53.79 and a one year high of $94.86. The firm has a market cap of $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.07. Bruker had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The company had revenue of $721.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BRKR shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Bruker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Bruker from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.78.

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.