Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $56.22.

BRKR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th.

Bruker Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Bruker stock opened at $38.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Bruker has a 12-month low of $34.10 and a 12-month high of $72.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.23, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $38.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.24.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The business had revenue of $801.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Bruker's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Bruker will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Bruker's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.46%.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 2,608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.36 per share, for a total transaction of $100,042.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 38,462,171 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,408,879.56. This represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 27.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bruker

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. London Co. of Virginia lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $245,820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,294 shares in the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP lifted its holdings in Bruker by 51.6% during the first quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 2,598,438 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $108,459,000 after purchasing an additional 884,423 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Bruker by 18.9% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,410,137 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $100,599,000 after purchasing an additional 383,425 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bruker by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,013,741 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $118,081,000 after purchasing an additional 20,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Bruker by 262.3% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $114,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,102 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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