Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Down 21.0% in November

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,010,000 shares, a decline of 21.0% from the October 31st total of 3,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Bruker Trading Down 0.7 %

Bruker stock traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $57.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 805,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,760,569. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.63 and a 200-day moving average of $64.01. Bruker has a one year low of $48.07 and a one year high of $94.86. The stock has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.20.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted 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 company had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.62%.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 $1,927,359,688.82. This trade represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Bruker by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 991 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 2.3% in the second quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,766 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Bruker by 120.4% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 399 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Bruker by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 30,911 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,972,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Bruker by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 858 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 248 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.