Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Update

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,320,000 shares, a drop of 8.3% from the March 15th total of 3,620,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 789,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.2 days. Approximately 3.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bruker 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 value of $1,350,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The transaction 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 Investors Weigh In On Bruker

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bruker in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,384,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 315,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $23,161,000 after purchasing an additional 121,201 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 55.7% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 138,302 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,616,000 after purchasing an additional 49,487 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 3.0% in the third 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. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 95.2% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 928,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $57,840,000 after purchasing an additional 452,780 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Bruker Stock Down 2.2 %

BRKR stock traded down $1.86 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $83.89. 819,510 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 772,121. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.17. Bruker has a 52-week low of $53.79 and a 52-week high of $94.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $809.35 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 14.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BRKR shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.86.

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.