Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Shares Down 3.7% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) dropped 3.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $60.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Bruker traded as low as $36.18 and last traded at $36.35. Approximately 154,022 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 1,484,347 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.74.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BRKR. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Bruker from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bruker

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. London Co. of Virginia increased its stake in Bruker by 78.4% during the 4th quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 4,193,454 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $245,820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,294 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,026,712 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $118,806,000 after buying an additional 185,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bruker by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,013,741 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $118,081,000 after acquiring an additional 20,273 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its position in Bruker by 262.3% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $114,978,000 after buying an additional 1,420,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sculptor Capital LP lifted its holdings in Bruker by 484.1% during the 4th quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 1,714,015 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $100,476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,569 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bruker Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.20.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

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.