Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Update

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,010,000 shares, a decline of 21.0% from the October 31st total of 3,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bruker has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.36.

Bruker Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ BRKR traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $57.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 415,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,111,251. Bruker has a 52-week low of $48.07 and a 52-week high of $94.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.20.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The business had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. This trade represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Bruker by 120.4% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 399 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in shares of Bruker by 4,636.4% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 521 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Bruker by 115.3% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 661 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Bruker during the second quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Bruker by 81.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 867 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

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.