Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) reached a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $47.44 and last traded at $48.67, with a volume of 297008 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BRKR. TD Cowen cut their price target on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays cut their price target on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America increased their price target on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.50.

Bruker Trading Down 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.72.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bruker Co. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Institutional Trading of Bruker

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BRKR. FMR LLC raised 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 valued at $987,981,000 after buying an additional 2,521,904 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $245,820,000 after buying an additional 1,843,294 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 9.6% during 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 buying an additional 318,808 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 1.1% during 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 buying an additional 37,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 10.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 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.