Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Shares Gap Up to $77.76

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $77.76, but opened at $80.64. Bruker shares last traded at $78.59, with a volume of 141,992 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRKR has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Bruker from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $84.86.

Bruker Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a market cap of $10.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.73, a PEG ratio of 1.97 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 firm's 50 day moving average is $87.93 and its 200 day moving average is $74.25.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. Bruker had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 29.94%. The business had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $809.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Bruker's revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Bruker's payout ratio is presently 6.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

In other Bruker news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were 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 directly owns 23,147 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,618.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 28.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bruker

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Bruker by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,080,071 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $593,724,000 after purchasing an additional 239,336 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP increased its position in Bruker by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,381,703 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $210,680,000 after purchasing an additional 422,100 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Bruker by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,950,145 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $121,494,000 after purchasing an additional 56,869 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Bruker by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,664,779 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $122,328,000 after purchasing an additional 562,684 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in Bruker by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,590,151 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $116,844,000 after purchasing an additional 35,873 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by 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.