Citigroup Trims Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) Target Price to $80.00

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) had its target price reduced by Citigroup from $95.00 to $80.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BRKR. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Bruker from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Bruker in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a buy rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Bruker from $81.00 to $77.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 20th. StockNews.com lowered Bruker from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Bruker from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $81.78.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of BRKR stock opened at $64.75 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $68.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.61. Bruker has a 12 month low of $53.79 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $721.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.88 million. Bruker had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 13.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bruker will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Bruker’s dividend payout ratio is 7.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bruker

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bruker during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,384,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Bruker during the fourth quarter worth $3,366,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Bruker by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 315,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $23,161,000 after buying an additional 121,201 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Bruker by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 188,201 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,829,000 after buying an additional 83,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Bruker during the fourth quarter worth $5,593,000. 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.