Jane Street Group LLC Sells 161,019 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Jane Street Group LLC decreased its position in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 97.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,544 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 161,019 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 9.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after buying an additional 318,808 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the third quarter valued at $268,000. RTW Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 1.1% during the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $240,406,000 after purchasing an additional 37,024 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its position in shares of Bruker by 4,875.9% during the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 470,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,470,000 after acquiring an additional 460,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bruker in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,046,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group started coverage on Bruker in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.45.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $60.95 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a 1-year low of $48.07 and a 1-year high of $94.86. The company has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a PE ratio of 29.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.77 and a 200-day moving average of $61.85.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is 9.62%.

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.