VELA Investment Management LLC Purchases 54,928 Shares of Bruker Corporation $BRKR

Key Points

• VELA Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Bruker Corporation by 80%, owning a total of 123,591 shares valued at approximately $5.1 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted their stakes, indicating strong institutional interest, with 79.52% of the company's stock owned by such investors.
• Bruker reported a quarterly earnings miss with $0.32 EPS, falling short of analysts' expectations, in addition to a revenue decline of 0.4% year-over-year.

VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) by 80.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 123,591 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 54,928 shares during the period. Bruker makes up approximately 1.4% of VELA Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. VELA Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Bruker worth $5,092,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Bruker by 118.7% in the second quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 3,075 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in Bruker by 21.8% in the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bruker by 15.4% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 33,013 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 4,404 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Bruker by 30.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 56,931 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,346,000 after purchasing an additional 13,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE lifted its stake in Bruker by 4.5% in the second quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE now owns 217,648 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $8,967,000 after purchasing an additional 9,342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $40.00 price target on shares of Bruker and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.00.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $38.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.20. Bruker Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.53 and a 52 week high of $64.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $33.35 and a 200 day moving average of $37.03.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $797.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $811.17 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 2.31%.The business's quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Bruker has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.950-2.050 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bruker Corporation will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 23rd were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Bruker's payout ratio is 38.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Cynthia M. Friend sold 3,535 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $114,003.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,016 shares of the company's stock, valued at $581,016. The trade was a 16.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 27.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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