Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 109.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,110 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,863 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BRKR. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Bruker in the first quarter valued at $234,000. Norden Group LLC boosted its stake in Bruker by 41.8% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 5,944 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $558,000 after buying an additional 1,753 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Bruker during the first quarter worth $178,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in Bruker by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 81,161 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,624,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Finally, Duality Advisers LP boosted its stake in Bruker by 12.5% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 8,619 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $810,000 after buying an additional 958 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on BRKR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.82.

Bruker Stock Performance

BRKR stock opened at $61.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $64.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.68. The company has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.45, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Bruker Co. has a 1-year low of $54.55 and a 1-year high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.52. The firm had revenue of $800.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $799.44 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 11.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.30%.

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.