Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Stock Price

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) had its price objective upped by Bank of America from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the medical research company’s stock.

BRKR has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.70.

Bruker Stock Performance

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $57.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $58.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.87. Bruker has a 12-month low of $48.07 and a 12-month high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. The trade was a 0.26 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bruker

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Bruker by 20.0% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 991 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 120.4% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 399 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in Bruker by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 30,911 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,972,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Bruker by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $877,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bruker by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,553 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 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.