Stifel Nicolaus Lowers Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Price Target to $77.00

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) had its target price cut by Stifel Nicolaus from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the medical research company’s stock.

BRKR has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bruker from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Bruker from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bruker from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $85.00.

Bruker Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR opened at $76.70 on Monday. Bruker has a 1 year low of $53.79 and a 1 year high of $94.86. 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’s 50-day moving average is $83.53 and its 200 day moving average is $76.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.22.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.07. Bruker had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The company had revenue of $721.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $729.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. Bruker’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hermann Fritz Requardt sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.06, for a total transaction of $1,350,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,084,618.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Bruker by 11.0% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 13,259 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $826,000 after buying an additional 1,312 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Bruker by 53.3% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 541 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Bruker by 20.2% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 46,732 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,911,000 after buying an additional 7,867 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Bruker during the third quarter valued at approximately $718,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Bruker by 0.4% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 200,594 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,497,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.