Analysts Set Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Target Price at $84.86

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.86.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BRKR shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th.

Bruker Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $80.97 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a PE ratio of 27.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $88.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.49. Bruker has a 1 year low of $53.79 and a 1 year high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.35 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 14.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. Analysts forecast that Bruker will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. Bruker’s payout ratio is currently 6.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 23,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 28.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BRKR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at about $74,582,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Bruker by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,840,735 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $488,478,000 after buying an additional 594,362 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Bruker by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,664,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $122,328,000 after buying an additional 562,684 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Bruker by 95.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 928,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $57,840,000 after buying an additional 452,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RTW Investments LP lifted its position in Bruker by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,381,703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $210,680,000 after buying an additional 422,100 shares during 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.