VELA Investment Management LLC Buys New Stake in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

VELA Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 20,241 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in Bruker by 4,636.4% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 521 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bruker by 2,324.1% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Bruker by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Bruker by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Bruker during the 3rd quarter worth $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Trading Down 5.4 %

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $47.76 on Friday. Bruker Co. has a one year low of $47.44 and a one year high of $94.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 62.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.16.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on BRKR. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

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.