Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Receives $70.50 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $70.50.

BRKR has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, 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 note on Friday, February 14th.

Bruker Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $45.97 on Thursday. Bruker has a 12-month low of $44.11 and a 12-month high of $94.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $53.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Bruker will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BRKR. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 11.7% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 134,254 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,272,000 after purchasing an additional 14,069 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 446.8% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,998 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 22,878 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $300,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 39.9% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 602,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,584,000 after purchasing an additional 171,806 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 21.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

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.