Short Interest in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Increases By 8.2%

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,750,000 shares, a growth of 8.2% from the January 15th total of 6,240,000 shares. Currently, 6.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,490,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BRKR. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bruker presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bruker

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in Bruker by 21.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $987,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 262.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,961,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $114,978,000 after buying an additional 1,420,102 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bruker in the fourth quarter worth about $63,378,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Bruker by 4,510.3% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 783,988 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $45,957,000 after acquiring an additional 766,983 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Bruker by 140.3% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,141,762 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $66,930,000 after acquiring an additional 666,617 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bruker Stock Performance

BRKR stock traded down $1.11 during trading on Monday, reaching $50.04. The company had a trading volume of 2,044,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,412,424. The company has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66. Bruker has a twelve month low of $48.07 and a twelve month high of $94.86. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.48.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 9.41%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

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.