Bruker Corporation $BRKR Shares Purchased by AQR Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Bruker Corporation by 65.9%, owning approximately 1,476,605 shares valued at $60.68 million as of the recent SEC filing.
• Bruker Corporation reported a quarterly EPS of $0.32, missing the consensus estimate by $0.01, with revenue of $797.4 million for the quarter.
• The company plans to distribute a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share, with the ex-dividend date set for September 23rd.

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 65.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,476,605 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 586,516 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.97% of Bruker worth $60,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. London Co. of Virginia boosted its stake in Bruker by 78.4% during the 4th quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 4,193,454 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $245,820,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843,294 shares during the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 51.6% in the 1st quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 2,598,438 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $108,459,000 after purchasing an additional 884,423 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 18.9% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,410,137 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $100,599,000 after purchasing an additional 383,425 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $94,692,000 after purchasing an additional 154,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Bruker by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,217,940 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $71,396,000 after buying an additional 318,630 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BRKR. Citigroup reduced their target price on Bruker from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Bruker and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $40.00 target price on shares of Bruker and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $61.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.30.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of BRKR stock traded up $1.58 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $32.07. The stock had a trading volume of 3,664,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,100,803. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a PE ratio of 61.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.11. Bruker Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.53 and a twelve month 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.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last announced its 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). Bruker had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The business had revenue of $797.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $811.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. The firm's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Bruker has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.950-2.050 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bruker Corporation will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

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

About Bruker

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.