Guggenheim Reaffirms Buy Rating for Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR)

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Guggenheim in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wolfe Research downgraded Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.45.

Bruker Stock Up 3.0 %

BRKR stock opened at $59.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $57.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.70. Bruker has a 12 month low of $48.07 and a 12 month high of $94.86.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) 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 the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. Bruker’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Bruker

In other Bruker news, CEO Frank H. Laukien purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,439,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This trade represents a 0.26 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Bruker by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. CGN Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bruker during the 4th quarter valued at $1,273,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Bruker in the 4th quarter worth about $300,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Bruker by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 115,508 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,771,000 after purchasing an additional 11,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bruker by 2,324.1% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.