Barclays Cuts Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Price Target to $69.00

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Free Report) had its price target lowered by Barclays from $75.00 to $69.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the medical research company's stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on BRKR. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Bruker from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bruker from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Bruker from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $79.36.

Bruker Trading Down 3.8 %

BRKR stock traded down $2.36 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.98. The company had a trading volume of 2,014,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,071,632. Bruker has a 52 week low of $54.55 and a 52 week high of $94.86. The company has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $64.08 and a 200 day moving average of $66.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 11.29%. The company had revenue of $864.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. Bruker's quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bruker will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bruker Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Bruker's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.30%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bruker by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,270 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Bruker by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 42,680 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,947,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bruker by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 40,522 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,798,000 after acquiring an additional 5,523 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in Bruker by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 36,627 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montanaro Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in Bruker by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd now owns 446,500 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $30,835,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.