Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR – Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,260,000 shares, a growth of 6.2% from the July 15th total of 3,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRKR. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Bruker by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,080,071 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $593,724,000 after purchasing an additional 239,336 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Bruker by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,788,763 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $168,036,000 after buying an additional 123,984 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,590,151 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $116,844,000 after buying an additional 35,873 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,414,362 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $132,865,000 after acquiring an additional 47,301 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Bruker by 127.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $88,666,000 after acquiring an additional 779,549 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.52% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages have weighed in on BRKR. StockNews.com downgraded Bruker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Bruker from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.80.
Bruker Stock Up 0.3 %
NASDAQ:BRKR traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $63.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 696,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,025,719. Bruker has a one year low of $53.79 and a one year high of $94.86. The business’s 50-day moving average is $63.99 and its 200-day moving average is $75.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.
Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52. Bruker had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The company had revenue of $800.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $799.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Bruker will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.
Bruker Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Bruker’s payout ratio is 7.27%.
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.