Guggenheim Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Guggenheim in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup lowered 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.45.

Bruker Trading Up 3.0 %

BRKR opened at $59.28 on Friday. Bruker has a 52 week low of $48.07 and a 52 week high of $94.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $57.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.70. The company has a market capitalization of $8.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.27, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The company had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Bruker will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought 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 directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Bruker by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521,904 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after purchasing an additional 318,808 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP lifted its stake in Bruker by 1.1% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $240,406,000 after buying an additional 37,024 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Bruker by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $137,702,000 after purchasing an additional 193,580 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Bruker by 127.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,666,000 after buying an additional 779,549 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Bruker

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.