Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Update

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,320,000 shares, a decline of 8.3% from the March 15th total of 3,620,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 789,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Bruker Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Bruker stock traded down $1.86 on Tuesday, reaching $83.89. 819,510 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 772,121. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $87.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Bruker has a fifty-two week low of $53.79 and a fifty-two week high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $844.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $809.35 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 14.41%. Bruker’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bruker’s payout ratio is 6.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRKR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Bruker in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $72.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.86.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In related news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total transaction of $1,350,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 28.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bruker during the fourth quarter valued at $76,958,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Bruker by 84.2% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,553,932 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $114,867,000 after purchasing an additional 710,228 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Bruker by 8.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,840,735 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $488,478,000 after purchasing an additional 594,362 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Bruker by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,664,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $122,328,000 after purchasing an additional 562,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Bruker by 4.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,253,314 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $723,588,000 after purchasing an additional 487,688 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.