Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.36.

Several research firms recently weighed in on BRKR. Wolfe Research downgraded Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Bruker Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of BRKR opened at $58.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66. Bruker has a 52-week low of $48.07 and a 52-week high of $94.86. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.63 and its 200-day moving average is $63.91.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The company had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Bruker’s payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. The trade was a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bruker

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BRKR. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Bruker by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521,904 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Bruker by 9.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after acquiring an additional 318,808 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP increased its position in shares of Bruker by 1.1% during the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $240,406,000 after acquiring an additional 37,024 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bruker by 10.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $137,702,000 after acquiring an additional 193,580 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Bruker by 127.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,666,000 after purchasing an additional 779,549 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.