Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Invests $238,000 in Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,839 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. London Co. of Virginia boosted its holdings in Bruker by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 4,193,454 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $245,820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,294 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Bruker by 18.9% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,410,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $100,599,000 after purchasing an additional 383,425 shares during the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP boosted its holdings in Bruker by 484.1% in the fourth quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 1,714,015 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $100,476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,569 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Bruker by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,687,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $98,914,000 after purchasing an additional 313,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Bruker by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,615,358 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $94,692,000 after purchasing an additional 154,768 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bruker Stock Performance

Bruker stock opened at $32.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.17. Bruker Corporation has a 1-year low of $30.00 and a 1-year high of $72.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.16.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $797.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $811.17 million. Bruker had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Bruker Corporation will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Bruker’s payout ratio is currently 38.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 2,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $38.36 per share, with a total value of $100,042.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,462,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,408,879.56. This represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 27.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRKR has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $46.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Bruker and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.30.

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.