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

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) 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 trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.86.

Bruker Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.04 and a 200 day moving average of $74.39.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $844.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.35 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 14.41%. Bruker’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bruker Co. will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 28.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bruker

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at $74,582,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Bruker by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,840,735 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $488,478,000 after purchasing an additional 594,362 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bruker by 95.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 928,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $57,840,000 after buying an additional 452,780 shares during the period. Finally, RTW Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Bruker by 14.3% in 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 buying an additional 422,100 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.