Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Price Target Lowered to $57.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $70.00 to $57.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 13.51% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.27.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of Bruker stock traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.22. 634,894 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,577,716. Bruker has a 12 month low of $48.07 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.71. 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 market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.16.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. The trade was a 0.26 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521,904 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Bruker by 9.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $250,501,000 after purchasing an additional 318,808 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP lifted its stake in Bruker by 1.1% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 3,481,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $240,406,000 after purchasing an additional 37,024 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bruker by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,013,741 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $118,081,000 after purchasing an additional 20,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Bruker by 262.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $114,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,102 shares during the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by 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.