Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Up 8.2% in January

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,750,000 shares, a growth of 8.2% from the January 15th total of 6,240,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days. Currently, 6.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on BRKR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group started coverage on Bruker in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BRKR. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 21.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521,904 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia increased its position in shares of Bruker by 78.4% during the fourth quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 4,193,454 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $245,820,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843,294 shares during the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP increased its position in shares of Bruker by 484.1% during the fourth quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 1,714,015 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $100,476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,569 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Bruker by 262.3% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $114,978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steadfast Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker during the fourth quarter worth about $63,997,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $50.93 on Tuesday. Bruker has a twelve month low of $48.07 and a twelve month high of $94.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.48, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $57.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.35.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

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.