Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Update

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,010,000 shares, a drop of 21.0% from the October 31st total of 3,810,000 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Bruker Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR traded down $0.28 during trading on Monday, hitting $57.62. 415,185 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,111,251. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Bruker has a 12-month low of $48.07 and a 12-month high of $94.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.91.

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

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bruker

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

Institutional Trading of Bruker

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in Bruker in the 1st quarter valued at $1,142,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Bruker in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,472,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Bruker by 1,694.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 202,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,936,000 after buying an additional 191,435 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Bruker by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 166,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,628,000 after buying an additional 8,346 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Bruker by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 301,251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,223,000 after buying an additional 98,427 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BRKR. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bruker currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.36.

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.