Bruker Co. (BRKR) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 16th

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of 0.05 per share by the medical research company on Friday, June 27th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th.

Bruker has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Bruker has a dividend payout ratio of 7.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Bruker to earn $3.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.3%.

Bruker Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $37.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.45. Bruker has a 52-week low of $34.10 and a 52-week high of $78.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $801.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.83 million. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Bruker will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bruker

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Bruker by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 123,336 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,148,000 after acquiring an additional 9,501 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bruker during the first quarter valued at $262,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bruker by 107.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,465,319 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $61,162,000 after purchasing an additional 758,301 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRKR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Bruker from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Bruker from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Bruker from $75.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on Bruker from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Bruker from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.10.

Bruker Company Profile

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.