Short Interest in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Expands By 9.6%

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,300,000 shares, an increase of 9.6% from the November 15th total of 3,010,000 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,370,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on BRKR shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bruker has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.70.

Bruker Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of BRKR stock traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $57.89. The company had a trading volume of 92,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,109,930. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66. Bruker has a twelve month low of $48.07 and a twelve month high of $94.86. The company has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.71.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.46 million. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $50.14 per share, with a total value 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. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 28.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its position in Bruker by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Bruker by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $250,501,000 after acquiring an additional 318,808 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP increased its position in Bruker by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $240,406,000 after acquiring an additional 37,024 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Bruker by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $137,702,000 after acquiring an additional 193,580 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Bruker by 127.8% in 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.52% 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.