Analysts Set Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Price Target at $81.40

Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.40.

BRKR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Bruker in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $78.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Bruker in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, 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.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BRKR. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 122.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 11,554 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 6,351 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 89.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the fourth quarter worth $205,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker in the fourth quarter worth $74,582,000. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bruker Stock Performance

Bruker stock opened at $67.54 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.76. The company has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Bruker has a fifty-two week low of $53.79 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. The business had revenue of $800.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $799.44 million. Bruker had a net margin of 11.29% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bruker will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

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