Should an investor be bullish on Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR)?
In the eyes of many of your fellow readers, hedge funds are perceived as bloated, old financial tools of a period lost to current times. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds in operation today, Insider Monkey aim at the leaders of this group, around 525 funds. It is assumed that this group has its hands on most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by keeping an eye on their best equity investments, we’ve figured out a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as necessary, positive insider trading activity is another way to look at the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are many motivations for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
Thus, let’s discuss the newest info surrounding Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR).
What have hedge funds been doing with Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -5% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
According to our 13F database, Harris Associates, managed by Natixis Global Asset Management, holds the most valuable position in Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR). Harris Associates has a $81.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Select Equity Group, managed by Robert Joseph Caruso, which held a $50.7 million position; 0.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Christopher Medlock James’s Partner Fund Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Since Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) has witnessed a fall in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of fund managers who sold off their entire stakes at the end of the second quarter. Interestingly, Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital said goodbye to the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we key on, worth an estimated $32.6 million in stock, and Israel Englander of Catapult Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds at the end of the second quarter.
How are insiders trading Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Using the returns explained by the previously mentioned tactics, average investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) is no exception.
