Brokerages Set Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Target Price at $84.86

Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $84.86.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BRKR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 report on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other Bruker news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,618.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 28.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bruker

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bruker during the 4th quarter worth about $2,384,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Bruker by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 315,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $23,161,000 after acquiring an additional 121,201 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Bruker by 55.7% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 138,302 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,616,000 after acquiring an additional 49,487 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted 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 worth $121,494,000 after acquiring an additional 56,869 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 95.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 928,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $57,840,000 after purchasing an additional 452,780 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of BRKR opened at $82.20 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.80. Bruker has a one year low of $53.79 and a one year high of $94.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $88.04 and its 200-day moving average is $74.39.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $844.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

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

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.