MML Investors Services LLC Buys 2,693 Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR)

MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) by 9.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 31,820 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Bruker were worth $2,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Bruker during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,472,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 5.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 166,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,628,000 after acquiring an additional 8,346 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 446.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,998 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,934,000 after acquiring an additional 22,878 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Bruker by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 301,251 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,223,000 after acquiring an additional 98,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Bruker by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 966,069 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $61,645,000 after purchasing an additional 27,870 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This trade represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRKR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.70.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $57.18 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66. Bruker Co. has a 52-week low of $48.07 and a 52-week high of $94.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.