Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Up 77.1% in December

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,200,000 shares, an increase of 77.1% from the December 15th total of 3,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days. Currently, 6.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRKR. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Bruker in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.45.

Bruker Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $59.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Bruker has a fifty-two week low of $48.07 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.95 billion, a PE ratio of 28.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.72.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The company had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 28.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bruker

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Bruker by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 134,254 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,272,000 after buying an additional 14,069 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,472,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 22,878 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bruker by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 166,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,628,000 after buying an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bruker by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 301,251 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,223,000 after buying an additional 98,427 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.