Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.10.

BRKR has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. London Co. of Virginia grew its position in Bruker by 78.4% in the 4th quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 4,193,454 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $245,820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,294 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP grew its position in Bruker by 51.6% in the 1st quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 2,598,438 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $108,459,000 after purchasing an additional 884,423 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in Bruker by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,410,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $100,599,000 after purchasing an additional 383,425 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bruker by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,013,741 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $118,081,000 after purchasing an additional 20,273 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 262.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $114,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,102 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of BRKR opened at $35.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 46.71, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.19 and its 200-day moving average is $49.45. Bruker has a fifty-two week low of $34.10 and a fifty-two week high of $77.61. 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 (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $801.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.83 million. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Bruker will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 38.46%.

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.