Brown Advisory Inc. Acquires 383,425 Shares of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 18.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,410,137 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 383,425 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 1.59% of Bruker worth $100,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Bruker by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,273 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,880 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 30,725 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,801,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 22,014 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Bruker by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 37,115 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 2,608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.36 per share, with a total value of $100,042.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,462,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,475,408,879.56. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 27.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BRKR shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Bruker from $61.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Bruker from $57.00 to $48.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.89.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of BRKR traded up $2.29 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $44.41. 983,234 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,176,186. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Bruker Corporation has a twelve month low of $34.10 and a twelve month high of $72.94. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $39.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.74.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 2.31%. The business had revenue of $801.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Bruker's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Bruker Corporation will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Bruker's payout ratio is presently 38.46%.

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.