Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Price Target to $50.00

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) had its price objective decreased by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $50.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 63.08% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $40.00 target price on Bruker and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $60.00 target price on Bruker and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their target price on Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Bruker from $61.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.30.

Bruker Trading Down 4.4%

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $30.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.96, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.61. Bruker has a 1 year low of $30.23 and a 1 year high of $72.94.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $797.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $811.17 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 2.31%. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 2,608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $38.36 per share, for a total transaction of $100,042.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 38,462,171 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,408,879.56. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 27.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. London Co. of Virginia boosted its position in Bruker by 78.4% during the 4th quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 4,193,454 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $245,820,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843,294 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP boosted its position in Bruker by 51.6% during the 1st quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 2,598,438 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $108,459,000 after acquiring an additional 884,423 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Bruker by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,410,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $100,599,000 after acquiring an additional 383,425 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Bruker by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,013,741 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $118,081,000 after acquiring an additional 20,273 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its position in Bruker by 262.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $114,978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,102 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

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.