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

Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the ten research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.89.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BRKR shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $61.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $57.00 to $48.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 2,608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $38.36 per share, for a total transaction of $100,042.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 38,462,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,475,408,879.56. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 27.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. London Co. of Virginia grew its position in Bruker by 78.4% during the 4th 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 raised its stake 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 buying an additional 884,423 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 383,425 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 20,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its holdings in Bruker by 262.3% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $114,978,000 after buying an additional 1,420,102 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company's stock.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of Bruker stock traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $41.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,963,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,773,059. The stock has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.18. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $39.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.24. Bruker has a one year low of $34.10 and a one year high of $72.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.57.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $801.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.83 million. Bruker had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 19.47%. Bruker's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Bruker's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.46%.

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.