Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Update

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,710,000 shares, a growth of 23.9% from the February 13th total of 4,610,000 shares. Approximately 5.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bruker

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew 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 during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew 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 during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bruker in the 4th quarter worth approximately $300,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Bruker by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 602,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,584,000 after buying an additional 171,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Bruker by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after buying an additional 2,521,904 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BRKR shares. Bank of America upped their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group began coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.50.

Bruker Price Performance

BRKR opened at $46.94 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Bruker has a 1 year low of $44.11 and a 1 year high of $94.86. The firm has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.76, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. As a group, analysts predict that Bruker will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

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.