Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Down 8.3% in March

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRKR has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Bruker in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Bruker from $63.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Bruker from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.86.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total value of $1,350,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 28.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bruker by 68.2% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 360 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Bruker by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 33,400 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,454,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. First Republic Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bruker by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,414 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Bruker by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,285 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bruker by 90.4% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 356 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $83.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.76. 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 has a 12 month low of $53.79 and a 12 month high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $844.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.35 million. Bruker had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 29.94%. The company’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Bruker will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. 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 payout ratio is currently 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.