Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) to Issue $0.05 Quarterly Dividend

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.05 per share by the medical research company on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd.

Bruker has raised its dividend by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Bruker has a dividend payout ratio of 7.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Bruker to earn $2.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.1%.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR traded down $1.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $48.23. 1,114,726 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,084,563. Bruker has a 12 month low of $48.07 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The firm has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.75, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.07.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. Bruker’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% 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 analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BRKR. Wolfe Research cut Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.36.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $50.14 per share, for a total transaction of $5,014,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

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.