Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Rating Increased to Neutral at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $60.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on BRKR. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.36.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $58.48 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $59.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.60. Bruker has a 12 month low of $48.07 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.18.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The company had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.46 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Bruker’s revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bruker will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.62%.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Bruker during the first quarter worth about $218,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 350.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,131 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,112,000 after purchasing an additional 25,768 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker in the first quarter valued at about $693,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 165.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,777 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 2,125.7% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,465 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,231 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

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.