Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $85.00.

Bruker Price Performance

BRKR opened at $77.25 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.88. The firm has a market cap of $11.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.22. Bruker has a twelve month low of $53.79 and a twelve month high of $94.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.07. Bruker had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The firm had revenue of $721.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $729.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 7.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In other Bruker news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total transaction of $1,350,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 28.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bruker

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 68.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 360 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bruker in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Bruker in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Bruker by 145.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 512 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bruker in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.