Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Up 10.0% in August

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the target of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,960,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the August 15th total of 3,600,000 shares. Currently, 3.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,040,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bruker in the second quarter worth about $296,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Bruker during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Maven Securities LTD boosted its holdings in Bruker by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Maven Securities LTD now owns 20,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 16,000 shares during the period. Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Bruker in the second quarter worth $222,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 2.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,936 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,165,000 after purchasing an additional 805 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bruker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.40.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of BRKR traded up $1.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $66.80. 1,159,553 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,016,878. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.12. Bruker has a 52-week low of $53.79 and a 52-week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52. Bruker had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 11.29%. The firm had revenue of $800.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $799.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.27%.

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.